One of the only dozen or so non-Old World wines in my stash, this makes a pretty competing case for dipping into Napa every couple decades. This is probably at, or very close to, peak. Decanted to start dinner, this is a beautiful Napa cab.
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Slo-ox 2-3 hours drank over 2 days. Deep and brooding from the get go and improved over time. Black currant, blackberry, chocolate, leather, iron notes. Pleasant acidity balanced nicely with dry tannins. Holding up nicely, but not as vibrant or complex as I experienced a decade ago. Enjoyed with bone-in ribeye tomahawk steak.
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Phenomenal bottle. Cork was a bit dried out but bottled stuffed full of goodness. Black and blue fruit. Oak fully integrated. Velvety tannins. Profound throughout. Popped and poured.
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No doubt that is an outstanding wine. Refined, seamless, delicious. But is it worth $427 at auction? Reminds me that I would rather have 10 bottles of a great $40 wine than one bottle of $400 wine.
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Fantastic. Opened a magnum for a steak and lobster dinner and decanted for two hours. Don’t think it evolved much as the night progressed but Seems to have a lot of life left
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Big boy wine @ 20+ years. Plenty of fruit , rich nose, Good wine, very dark purple, I think this wine was better 10 years ago. Last 2 glasses were vac'd up and 5 nights later the wine was noticeably more interesting.
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Outstanding but not transcendent. Smooth, mature, rich and but not tertiary fruit. Some subtle soil and tar notes added complexity. I doubt this improves from here.
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Blackberry, nutmeg, creamy, forceful. Power nose. Sweet, mature fruit. A bit much for me - missing a balancing element. It a very fine wine for sure, just not my style. I will be drinking my other two bottles soon as I think more time may push it further into a sweet only mode. (94)
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Fantastic new-worlds: A big boy kind of wine with powerful, extracted black fruit. Better than the 1999 that I tried previously but this felt unbalanced still, especially next to the Opus which was a better wine in my opinion. Not my kind of wine.
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Best cab I’ve had in a while. Drank with Ash B at dinner. Aired in wine glasses for an hour during cocktails. Great everything. Round, full bodied, long finish, great flavors and tannins in balance. Don’t get that very much any more.
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Still intense dark fruit. Bold and rich crushed herbs and minerals plenty of age left in it. Long finish that keeps going with classic aged cab characteristics.
Almost perfect.
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This is a baby. Mixed berry fruit on the nose with tobacco leaf and leather starting to show a bit more. Still some oak yet to integrate.
Cassis and dark fruit dominate the palate. Does not seem overdone given the surplus of chewy tannins that have yet to soften. Oak still persists a bit.
Consider checking on this in 20 years...seriously.
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Powerful. Soaring rich fruit framed by dusty minerality. Not my usual fare, but I am enjoying this very much with a nice Aussie wagyu. Seems fully resolved and ready to go.
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1 hour decant prior to Linda’s Xmas party. Black cherry, vanilla oak and dusty ash on the finish . Somewhat too concentrated for my palate that evening after drinking Bordeaux, but overall nice.
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A true “wow” wine and the best Shafer HSS poured on an evening with about a dozen vintages. A hedonistic dream. Absolutely killer ripe strawberry cherry fruit with tremendous purity and depth. Long rich and creamy with sweet tannins and balancing acid keeping it fresh. Simply delicious with a sense of real breed. Still comes across young and vibrant. yum yum juice. Not for the faint of heart or those with palates favoring a more dry earthy leaner styled wine. However, if you like fruit in your wine, wow!
Champagne Gala
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Decanted 1+ hours. This was in a perfect spot. Gobs of nearly jammy black and blue fruits. Touches of mocha. Nice vanilla Oak with some dusty tannins and eucalyptus and lavender. Velvety smooth.
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Holiday Champagne Gala (Park Ridge Country Club): A big step up vs the 2004 and 2001 Sunspot, but still more fleshy and flashy than what I would prefer. Still, lots here with very good concentration and nearly balanced. Wine of the Night for some.
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At Todd’s in Sonoma (pre-move). PnP. Incredibly rich dark fruit. A really intense, delicious wine. Still has a lot left but so glad that Todd opened it for us. (14.9% alc)
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Small vertical of Hillside Select 1994/2002/2016. All wines showed great with unbelievably complex aroma profiles, laser-sharp precision, and an impeccable structure. They have the Napa fruit and ripeness but all is well dosed and with so much hillside minerality to balance it. The 1994 (97pts) was almost Bordeaux-esque and almost fully mature (the opposite of a very young bottle 2 years ago). The 2002 (96pts) is slowly getting there, shows incredibly complex but still has to lose some baby fat. The 2016 (97+pts) is of course very young but the most singular 2016 Napa I‘ve had to date (out of probably 30) and is a great promise for the future.
TN: Very expressive nose with lots of cassis and blackberries, strong minty notes, some baby fat, baking spices and a touch minerality. The palate shows much more layered and ever changing with lots of ripe but not too ripe dark fruit and blue fruit, graphite and some ashy minerality and smoke, herbs, with time red fruit, violets, hints of chocolate and baking spices as well as some first shy tertiary aromas with fresh tobacco. The wine has a massive but fine tannin structure which is in need of further ageing and a good freshness but not with the same tension great Bordeauxs have (and I guess the 2016 will have at the same point in its life). Easily 96+ points.
Decanting: Quickly double-decanted 7 hours before consumption, good from the go.
Can’t believe the price hike on this wine now. Deep garnet. Wonderful oak spice cinnamon and cardamom with sweet dark fruit and cassis. No need to hold longer.
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Tasted blind as part of a mini-vertical (1994, 2002, 2016). All 3 bottles were only double-decanted as no longer decant was needed. This being blind, it was hard to find the common denominator that would have given away a vertical with all three wines showing very distinct features. In terms of ranking #1 was 2002 followed by 2016 and 1994.
Tasting note A ton of liquorice, cranberry, black currant, blueberry, fine cedar wood and milk chocolate. Very concentrated and super intense. Great tension with an electric and long finish. Acidity and tannin woven into a luxurious robe. Baking spices, more leather and smoke. Sumptuous and incredibly refined, great detail. A polished yet cool fruit. This is mind-blowingly amazing. Fun fact: At 1.6kg the bottle is almost twice as heavy as a regular bottle and was also heavier than the other two.
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dark berries, chocolate, and creme de cassis on the palate. Silky tannins with a nice and long finish. Tannins are non-existent at this point, just about to enter the 'age of wisdom' for a cab.
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Wow, lives up to the hype. Expressive gorgeous nose. Elegant with dark fruit notes and subtle spices. Tannins have become round but still have a lot of muscles. Wood flavors and smoke. Long finish.
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Just an amazing wine that is as smooth as silk yet still full fruited and quite youthful. Some secondary notes but this wine remains fresh and maybe immortal? Again Shafer HHS is at the top of anything from Napa.
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This is the first one of these that I have opened. At 18 years of age, it is still big. It is clearly a very well made wine, with emphasis on concentration and abundance of flavor. I would say that it is a very impressive wine, but perhaps more impressive than delicious. I would trade this for an 02 Phelps Insignia for drinking in 2021. Where the 'delicious' quality wins out.
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Not sure what to make of this. Drank New Year's Eve with prime rib. Decanted for a couple hours before first drink and frankly this just had a funny mid-palate taste. Not bad, off or funky, just a fruit or flavor I didn't like. May have been me (taste buds getting over a cold) so just not sure what to think.
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“No hard edges here!” was our theme for this beautiful bottle of wine. Typical for the Hillside Select, there’s plenty of structure, but it’s so graceful and so enveloped in a soft, sweet, velvety mouthfeel, that it’s hardly noticeable. Rich aromas of black fruit, cedar, flowers. Such balance and liquid weight on the palate, with loads of ripe berry flavors, licorice, and a touch of toasty vanilla. But the best thing about this wine is the finish ... an eternity of “yum” as the wine slips down your throat, warms your chest, and lands in your belly, sending out ripples. So worth all the time and expense it takes to score this cult cab!
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Open this up a week ago and whether decanted or out of the bottle, there were prune and alcohol notes that led me to believe this might have suffered transportation damage. Returned it all to the bottle and gassed it off.
Reopened a week later as a pop and pour. Still not stellar nor what I expect from the property, reaffirming my transport damage fear, but certainly still drinkable and enjoyable. Prune on the nose with a hint of green, alcohol and you can sense a port like finish developing. Still, enjoyed by all who didn’t know the price or provenance.
No rating
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During a Zoom tasting, blind. We had a lot of rich Bordeaux blends in this flight and people found it hard to place. Even votes for Spain were in the mix. Well, these new World CabSav are hard core in terms of density and sweetness, if you frequently drink Burgundy like me that you know what I mean. Not up my alley and so I am glad that this is my last bottle. To be fair, this wine found the most accolades in the flight as it had enough tannic stricture to support its XXL ripe frame. I scored it 94, if you like these types of rich Napa wines you can a point or two higher, but not much more (see my previous note).
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Not decanted but allowed to breathe from the bottle for almost 2 hrs. Tasted side by side w from both standard Riedel’s and Sommelier stems, the somm’s added a notable degree of richness and weight to the blackberry and dark fruit on the nose, as well as a floral component.
Elegant approach shows the wines age, but there’s still several years ahead of this before the “must drink” stage. Smoke, sweet tannins, mature dark fruit are the main components, but it’s the wines integration and layering that make this so special.
Mrs Davidandrose added that drinking this brings her back to the vineyard, with morning dew on top of the black cherry, smoke, aged vanilla and old toasted oak.
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Hitting on all cylinders. Brief 30 minute decant then opening up to a field of flavors and tones. Just delicious, unctuous, and packed with exotic spice on top of rich red and dark fruit. I was just warming up as the bottle was dwindling. Killer now!
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Fruit, fruit and more fruit. Rich, dense, intense, palpable fruit. Liqueur-like blackberry, black raspberry and black currant, some smoke. I'm sure there was a ton of oak and tannin buried in there, but you can't detect either. For all the sumptuous fruit, it somehow tasted balanced and supple with good lift and a long finish. Obviously not the most complex of wines, but that kind of fruit quality is hard to find.
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A Monument still in adolescent stage: our bottle was decanted 1 hour before dinner, a bit closed and distanced at first but then a perfect match with the lamb carre. A very intensive nose of blackberries and black cherries, hedonistic but still young. An endless (1 minute+) lasting finish which encourages you to think about philosophy of Life. A wine of enormous proportion: a Monument which will easily last 20+ years, one of the best wines I ever had!
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Shafer Hillside Select in Boston - Take II (Boston): Just beautiful. Still young and the fruit is mostly primary. Mouth-coating tannins and a long, long finish. The best example I've tasted of this vintage.
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It's been ages since I last tasted this gem. It is hard to believe, this is almost 18 years old. The color remains dark. The fruit, which has softened over the years, continues to hold on to its youth. The oak is better integrated. But this is still about the power and layers of decadent berries, so I'd wait another few years before popping another cork.
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Pnp at a restaurant and sipped over 2.5 hours. Deep garnet color. Dark berries, cherries, silky smooth tannins, tobacco, and incredible long finish. Amazing wine that got better and better with each sip.
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Deep balanced and complex. A nice blend of blueberry, blackberry, and a little cherry mixed with earthy cigar box, espresso and orange peel. The tannins are mellowed but evident with some oaky toastiness and cinnamon on the long finish. Fabulous .
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In the bouquet dark berries and licorice. Same on the palate. Beautiful juice, acidity and bitterness. Some pleasant sweetness. Great wine with still a good future.
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I can't give this a fair score. It was open in the bottle, poured off to the shoulders, for about 90 minutes before we started drinking it. It was not nearly enough. I would suggest a 2 or 3 hour decant before drinking. Unfortunately, it was my last bottle. I know from other scores here this bottle should have shown better. My bad.
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Wine Advocate: Grand Walkabout Tasting (NYC): Poured from a Magnum. This is still a baby! Lots of primary fruit character remaining. Tannins are still in the process of resolving. This is going to be incredible for decades more.
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Amazing depth, layers of ripe, generous fruit, spices, crushed stones, tobacco, cedar. On the palate fresh, very well balanced, gentle tannic grip. Very complex with a nice mineral spine, really long and persistent, too. Fantastic. 96-98
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Dark and brooding with a huge tannic backbone that will benefit from additional time to soften. All flavors are dark ones- Balckberry, graphite, stone, tobacco. Worth waiting 5-10 years in my opinion.
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decanted for an hour. this wine lived up to its rating. typical shafer start and finish with dark fruit and smooth even tannins. in my opinion, blew away the other wines of the evening ('97 Harlan, '92 Araujo, '07 Sloan, '12 Kapcsandy)
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6L that we’ve had since 2007, won at NWWF auction. Celebration for Cheryl’s recovery from near death experience. It was outstanding wine, could have waited much longer but the time was good for us to enjoy, so we did. Well deserving of the 100 point score. Doug and Elias are truly special.
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A great wine with a long finish. Still lots of fruit left, it probably has years of life ahead of it. Opened, but not decanted for over 90 minutes before pouring. It continued to evolve and get better during the evening.
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It gives me a heavy heart to rank this wonderful wine 3rd (kind of). Really, 1-3 are all on the same playing field. (Abreu Thorevolis and Schrader were 1a and 1b). I’ve had this before a few years ago and thought it was amazing and graded it 100 pts. Tonight it had 99 pts but man this was some seriously stiff competition. The nose is much more floral but backed up by some serious dark fruit and black cherry. When tasting, you get the sense of free run juice with no stems and the tannin is so smooth but obviously from the 30-35 months in oak. It finishes for at least a minute. This is definitely one of the best Shafer vintages, and they’ve produced some spectacular wines over the years. As an aside, I highly recommend visiting them if you’re ever in Napa.
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Shafer and Scarecrow at South End in New Canaan (South End New Canaan): Super excited to try this legendary wine. There was a cork issue with this so it wasn't fully opened until we got to the restaurant and was promptly decanted. Nose on this was fantastic with sweet cherry, burning embers, blackberry, touch of earth and plum. The palate of this had flavors of blackberry, cherry, earth, mocha, fruitcake and a touch of iron. This still had a tannic bite on it so it really could have used at least a good two hours. Improved as we drank it. Ended with a huge blackberry infused finish that lasted at least a minute. This certainly didn't drink like a 15 year old Cabernet. Certainly had a long life ahead of it still. Lived up to the hype.
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Dissappointing bottle as dominated by alcohol and over ripe fruit. Last bottle had 5 years ago had more balance, length, texture on the palate and flavor complexity. Bummer.
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It was the 2nd Cabernet of the night, following a 2009 Quilceda Creek Cabernet and it was followed by a 1997 Phelps Insignia. Opened, but not decanted for 45 minutes before pouring. Beautiful color, and perfumed nose. It had a big mouthfeel and long long finish. A treat to drink. This may have been an overwhelming fruit bomb in its youth, but at 15 years (from the harvest, not the bottling), it has balanced out really well. I had this with a Mutton chop and it was a great pairing.
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I gave this one an over night decant and it fell apart. needs 6-12 hours max. I was disappointed . upfront and mid-palate gave up nothing, finish was all alcohol.
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UWS 2016 End of year dinner (@ CdW and KvdK): No formal notes. Popped and poured and a bit too cold. Nevertheless a great pleasure again! What a beautiful and harmonious wine and still in its early maturity stage.
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A Matter of Taste (Meritage Resort & Spa Napa, CA): 94-95: Was very good, however not where I expected it to be given its 100 pt score and 14 years of age. Maybe my score is dampened a bit by my disappointment as I was expecting a much more profound wine and experience.
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1/3 of bottle previously coravin'd. Uncorked and allowed to breathe for 90 mins. Wine color has barely penetrated the cork.
Purple/black coloring is darker than I'd expect for a 14 YO wine. Pencil lead, leather, char on the nose. Wine holds a firm grip on the side of the stems but glides over the palate without leaving much of a coating, though there are ample dark fruit flavors that - again- I'd expect to find in a younger wine. In a solid place today, capable of cellaring for many years to come. Tossing off a bit of fine sediment before the wine level dropped to the punt. Clearly a new world wine. 96
A remaining 1/3 of a 2001 HSS previously CV'd was opened as well. Cork has been motioned 30+% up, but is still fine. Though it poured a bit lighter in color than the '02, this was stellar right out the of the bottle, with opulent rich, dark fruit flavors, notably black cherry. After 2 hours there was considerable spice box and vanilla; fruits show a greater degree of maturity and less intensity than in the '02. Old world pedigree. 97
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Drank after 78 Lafite and 96 La Mouline last night. Friend opened it after he decided I was still thirsty. Decanted for half an hour before serving. Opened up quite nice with your deep Napa Cab nose full of berries, without noticeable oak. Fruity and very mouth filling, however, the complexity was not there. Sweet and long finish in the end. Still too young?
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Drank at Grand Street with Nancy/Jeff and Ann/Johnny. Open, pour and decanted. Dark purple color, amazing nose out of the bottle, and after airing out for about an hour darn close to perfect. Perfect balance, great flavors, long finish. Mad that family wanted to drink so much and leave less for me.
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Beautiful aromas flowing from the bottle once I managed to magically extract the bottom portion of the crumbling cork. Oh... this is going to be good!
Wife: "Will I like that?" Me: "I hope not" Poured into decanter... another whiff... mmmmmmm.
Decanted about an hour. Beautiful floral nose and tons of juicy delicious fruit on the palate. This was everything I hoped it would be... sublime. You could wait, but why?
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Had a dinner with the 1994 Tertre Rôteboeuf, 2002 Shafer Hillside Select and 1999 Ridge Monte Bello. Only the Shafer was decanted, the other two were opened and sat in the bottle for about 45 minutes before serving. The WOTN for me was the Ridge, followed by the Shafer. But all three were outstanding.
The Shafer is tasting much younger than 15 years, as it still has gobs of fruit. Huge amounts of vanilla both on the nose and in the taste. Very long finish. This is a great wine and I'm sure it will last for years and years.
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Not the best showing for this wine, I've had it being much better. Red currants, dark red fruits and cooking spices and a finish that had a bit of a metallic taste in it. It was still good but a disappointment overall.
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Big cab dinner at Morton's - 07 Maybach, Ovid, Insignia and etc. (Morton's - Reston, VA): From the same batch as the last two bottles. This seems to shed the opulent prime fruits a bit which accentuates the irony mineral expression. This bothers RJ a lot as he doesn’t care for the “iron” in Napa cab. On the other hand, it doesn’t bother me. Expressive nose displaying blueberries, blackberries, licorice, iron, lead pencil and bitter chocolate, Excellent concentration, strong presence of mineral that gives the impression of iron, silky and polished, more noticeable tannins than the previous bottles and long finish that ends with an iron note. This seems a bit angular/structure driven. Nevertheless I found it really enjoyable.
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Decanted for about an hour then drank with kona rubbed lamb chops at the capital grille. The wine had lost some of the brilliant color but was aromatic and perfectly integrated. Dark fruit and a long lingering finish. Great wine and pairing
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One of the RICHEST wines I have had so far. A true sipping wine...This is not a dinner wine to gulp with food...Its an after dinner wine that can very easily make you forget about dessert... with an explosion of black and red fruit, cold steel, and spice. Very long, long, finish... Still very fresh, probably just more blended and tame than at release at age of 13...But I would have loved to try this a year or 3 after release. The word "awesome" is so loosely used these days, but applies very appropriately to this gentle beast. Drink or Hold
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Drank at Auberge du Soliel along side a 2010. I have had several 2002's and in my opinion it still needs an over night to show its best. Double decant this for sure. Stunning, loads of cherries, chocolate, and espresso. Long finish with red fruits lasting forever. without the double decant its still somewhat harsh with dominate alcohol on the finish. Its amazing that a 2002 still needs to settle down. This baby is still huge.
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Thank you J! This bottle was clearly in perfect shape (2 hour decant) and showed amazingly well against very tough competition ('07 OVID, '10 HSS, '12 SQN Stock). Rich, ripe, succulent, high toned perfumed nose that is unmistakably the HSS signature tell. Amazingly deep ripe fruit profile of red cherry, strawberry, and rhubarb wake all the senses in the best way possible. Wonderful energy and lift support the rich red fruit flavors, yet this stays silky, soft, and smooth. A real WOW wine. So impressed where this wine is in its evolution, or should I say almost lack of evolution. This was tasted with the 2010 HSS, which seemed like a barrel sample that closed up quickly in the glass. For now, its no contest.
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We had this with Kobe Prime Rib on 7/18/15. It had a powerful, layered, fragrant and completely awesome bouquet of lavender, cassis, blackberry, raspberry, road tar, licorice, mocha, cocoa and spice aromas. The palate was rich, ripe, powerful and VERY dry with flavors of black currant, black cherry, blackberry, mocha, cocoa, licorice, herb, spice and minerals.
Our group was split right down the middle: some thought the drying tannins were too much and didn’t like it. Some thought it was incredible. The group’s average score was still 94.5.
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This was a bit of a disappointment compared to other HSS bottles, but still very very good. Out of magnum, decanted for 2 1/2 hours. HSS is my favorite cabernet, and I have probably served it to guests more than any other wine. Everyone else loved it, so I am probably being overly harsh. It does need more time to fully show all that it has to offer.
Cork broke when opening, I was worried. Initial funky chemical aroma on initial decant and poured a half glass for a quick taste, still worried. An hour later, the funk & chemical nose was gone and the wine was starting to soar. Asked my wife to taste... and what was in the taste glass was quickly dispatched as she nodded approval. Dinner a few hours later, ribeye with good friends. Notes of fresh loam, dark fruits are ever present, so well integrated that they were very hard to distinguish particulars; a very long, soft, smooth, mouth watering finish. Wow. Minutes long!
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drank in a vertical tasting, 99-03. 2003 did not match up. 99 was a surprise hit. 2001 and 2002 were the clear winners with the 01 being slightly better
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A Matter of Taste tasting (London, Saatchi Gallery): Great to taste this wine again! As in my previous note I wrote that this wine comes close to perfection. Beautiful dark fruits, coffee, cinnamon, a beautiful balance between sweetness and acidity and silky soft tannin with a lot of power. Probably a great pleasure from now until at least 2025. I love this wine!
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This is a beautiful wine. Lives up to the "hype". 1hr decant and aromas and flavors are soaring out of the decanter. Wonderful example of Cali CS and how they can hold up/improve for a decade and longer.
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Very dark, thick and almost syrupy texture when poured into decanter. Spectacular nose. Decanted for 5 hours. Everything was perfect except for the finish. The finish was disjointed and alcohol muted the flavors. I expected much more from this 2002. We drink a lot of Shafer HSS and this was not the best bottle I have had especially for the price of this year. Needs more time to age.
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This bottle was an impromptu pop and pour with friends. The colour was a very deep purple and it was perfectly clear. Based on how this wine was, I would have never known that this bottle was 12 years old already. It had a strong nose and taste of red cherries and caramel with some chocolate thrown in the mix. Although I didn't measure the finish, it was quite long. The tannins and acidity are present but have mellowed out nicely and now the wine is showing wonderfully. One of my "wines of the year".
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Cali Cab Dinner with 10+ Years of Age - 02 HSS, 04 Levy, 01 Madronna and etc. (Charlie Palmer - Washington DC): The last bottle that I had in last May was certainly was impressive but was a bit overwhelming. Intense crushed blackberries, crème de cassis, lead pencil, dark milk chocolate, vanilla and mineral. Incredible concentration, intense jammy black fruit driven palate impression, unctuous yet silky palate and masked tannins due to the incredible fruit concentration. Wow wine. IMO, Shafer HSS is one of the greatest Napa Cabs.
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Drank alongside a 2003 Chapoutier Ermite and a 2004 Penfolds Grange - great company. This is amaaazing wine - pure, layered, multi-dimensional, sweet, tannic wine. I almost thought it was a Syrah, as did others given its company. This wine has years and years to go - I can see why Mr. Parker endows it with 100 points. I'm just leaving space for better wines in the future (perhaps one day I'll have to recalibrate).
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Paris Tasting in Zwolle (again... at last) (De Librije - Zwolle): Kleur: Robijnrood met een diep paarsige vleug Aroma / bouquet: Stuivend aroma, geconcentreerde powerwijn met donker fruit, potloodslijpsel, inkt, caramel, cederhout. Indrukwekkende concentratie. Smaak / Afdronk: Verleidelijke powerwijn, iets te lage zuurgraad en daardoor iets te weinig fraicheur, boterzachte tannines, wat laurier, super dik sap met veel concentratie en power. Veel alcohol. Algemeen / potentieel: Verleidelijk glas. Wel oppassen met serveertemperatuur. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 13 + Smaak / Afdronk: 17 + Algemeen / potentieel: 8 = 93/100
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Color: Ruby red with deep purplish hint Aroma / bouquet: dusty aroma, power concentrated wine with dark fruit, pencil shavings, ink, caramel, cedar. . Impressive concentration Taste / Finish: Seductive power of wine, a bit too low acidity and therefore too little fraicheur, butterly soft tannins, some bay leaves, super thick juice with a lot of concentration and power. Lots of alcohol. General / potential: Seductive glass. Be careful with serving temperature. 50 + Color: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 13 + Taste / Finish: 17 + General / potential: 8 = 93/100
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This wine is showing lots of ripe blue and black fruits. Hints of smoke and chocolate as well. This is still very full bodied and should continue to integrate and balance as it ages in bottle.
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Dark purple to rim, intense nose of dark berries, mocha, full body, palate coating, rich ripe fruit, long finish, outstanding, not quite as round or complete as the 2001 or 2004.
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Even among 100 pointers, a wine rarely gets the kind of endorsement like this one. I a video RP discusses it with other California Cab Sav 100 Pointers ranking it above that "Uber-peer-group" and calling it one of the greatest CabSav's ever made. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkMC51DE4VM). Against that backdrop I recently bought a few bottles just to see what it is that enticed RP so much. Not that I did not know the Hillside Select before, a retailer close to where I grew up discovered it in the early nineties and carried it in his assortment. I had many vintages before but not the 2002. To finally taste it I took a bottle to a dinner in Hong Kong with an old friend from work who is an experienced oenophile. We discussed intensely and settled on a range between 95 to 100. Below that it gets hard to defend your position. We can see 100 but only if your style is "the more the better". I came out at just 95/96, my friend was in the 97-98 range. Tasting note: Very dark purple with blackish core, no sign of age in the color. Expressive nose of blueberry, some flowers, dark berries again and hints of Eucalyptus. On the palate this is full bodied with a touch of heat but not overly so. What is impressive are the tannins. They are there in spades but ultra soft on the mid palate. What they do is to provide the much needed bitterness (bitter chocolate note) at the finish to round out the otherwise very sweet/blueberry/fruity mid palate. Structurally this reminded of the best 2010 CdP 100 pointers like Grand Veneur VV or Janasse VV. What I am personally missing is a bit more aromatic diversity beyond the black fruit spectrum, eg, smokey, earthy tones. If you own this wine, put it next to a Latour 2000 or Montrose 2009/10 and you know where I am coming from. Sorry for the lengthy note but given the video credentials I thought I had to go a bit deeper here.
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Decanted and followed over 4 hours. Pours inky purple with heady, rich aromas right out of the bottle; Mrs Davidandrose closed her eyes and said she felt she was in Napa, with her head in a recently-emptied cask. Wine was a little backwards right out of the bottle with some disjointed green notes, silky mouthfeel and a brief mid-palate finish, but this changed over time.
Silkiness dissipated at the 4 hour mark, rich blueberry, medium+ toast oak, tight wood feel but a longer finish that continues back-palate. In a very nice place but will retaste within a year to gauge longevity of remaining bottles.
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The 2002 Hillside Select is a brazzen, decadent wine, oozing with super-ripe blue and black fruits, smoke and hints of chocolate and licorice. Sumptuous and supple, with fine-grained tannins and massive volume on the palate, this is a particularly ripe, precocious and seductive vintage of Hillside. The ripeness here is walking the tightrope, but for now everything is held in check.
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Decanted for 4 hours. This wine is showing beautifully. Still has good structure and tannin that tells me it could definitely continue to age. This night it was amazing and if I had more of this wine it would be hard not to open another in the near future. Delicious!
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What a great showing. On the nose the fruit really hits you with blackberry and cassis. Lots of youth showing in this wine. The finish shows the structure with some solid tannins and a hint of spice. This is my second bottle and it is aging at a glacial pace. Older vintages of HSS have hit the sweet spot for me at about 15 years. This one will easily be 20 or 25.
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Into the decanter at 10:45 am. Cork showing some signs of dry rot, but no evidence of spoilage or leakage. Tasted over the next 36 hours. Really took a while to open up. Not the depth of fruit I'd expect from Shafer. I have to suspect that the bottle was slightly bad or on it's way. I'll leave it unrated.
I won't bore you with the usual HSS descriptors. This is classic HSS. The wine equivalent of a girl who is stunningly gorgeous, and walks into a room knowing she is the prettiest girl in the room. This is a feminine wine, but not girly. Definitely badass. Confident yet humble. Not slutty like a Maybach. This is a girl who never needs to post her butt on Instagram. Opulent, luxurious, All-American. Francophiles may blush. The 2001 is very close. 2001 may be slightly more structured and precise and the 2002 more velvety and plush.
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This was showing extremely well, stored perfectly since release and it showed. Great extraction, balance and structure. Still fairly young, so I wouldn't be in a hurry but shows well from the start.
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Beautiful and luxurious bouquet with ripe dark forest fruits, mainly blueberries, sweet spices, good chocolate, flowers, etc. Just great! On the palate everything comes back. A beautiful balance between sweetness and acidity and silky soft tannin, but also still a pleasant soft bite. This is very close to perfection. Can last at least another decade.
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Football & Domestic Cabs @ Howard's 2013 (Old Greenwich, CT): Such a well-endowed wine, with fresh, fleshy fruit and loads of structure for the long haul. Cassis, blueberry and violets abound. A bit too intense for me for current consumption but this has such great promise. Score is based on future potential.
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pop n pour.veri tight.closed.didnt get much thing.pour into decanter.getting slightly better after several hrs.my suggestion if u wana xplore tis bttl,few hrs decant is a must.my gues for tis bttl to reach maturity is 15 yrs.no rating bcoz didnt get much tings from tis bttl
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Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Tasting (Switzerland): First impression - still too young. While I expect this wine to be close to the legendary 2001 in a few years of time, I do not think that it will ever reach its greatness.
Deep purpelish red. Nose of black berries. The tannins are still very present. There is an enormous power and backbone to this wine. A future blockbuster wine. As with the 2001 I would resist pulling the cork for another 5 years. Great wine.
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Trip’s visit to DC - Capital Grill (Capital Grill at Tysons corner, VA): This is a youthful monster, not evolved much showing mostly primary fruits. Crushed blackberries, crème de cassis, lead pencil, vanilla and earth. Incredible concentration and chewy palate. It seems a bit closed. This is a truly impressive wine rather than enjoyable. I preferred the 01 which seem a bit more open and slightly less concentrated.
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This is in the top 5 bottles of wine I have ever tasted! The balance and structure was just perfect. The fruit was delicious with blackberry and dark currant, I don't think this can get better, but I am going to continue cellaring my remaining bottles to find out.
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Gobs of cassis, some black cherry, brown sugar, graphite, smoke, a little cedar, forest floor, and vanilla on the nose. Not a huge nose though. Cassis, earth, chocolate, tart cherry, spice, herbs, and a little caramel on the palate. Very concentrated, yet well balanced. No noticeable heat. Fine tannins. Bit of sweetness on the long finish. Overall, this is an outstanding wine. I would love to try it again someday, but I doubt I could afford it...
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Excellent wine. Creme of cassis, lead and saddle leather mixed with berries and a hint of vanilla in the finish. Big and bold in the bottle with a terrific finish. I think this got plenty or room to evolve and mature.
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OK folks. Here goes. Drank at my daughter's wedding after consuming the following wines with my dear friends: 1985 Bonny's Silver Oak, !985 Napa Silver Oak, 1985 Joseph Phelps Insignia, 1985 Dunn Howell Mt., 2001 Araujo, 1995 Caymus Special Select, 2006 Colgin IX, 2007 Leonetti Reserve, 2003 Neal Rutherford Dust, 2006 Quilceda Creek. So...this wine was the overwhelming best. Perfect harmony of fruit and oak and tannins all velvety on the palate. Lingers forever. Find it and covet it.
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Jen's Fund Raiser Dinner II (Max's Bistro, Fresno Ca.): My first time with this one...very ripe and loaded with sweet fruit and flavors....berry liqueur, creme de cassis....dusty cedar spice, charcoal, pretty florals......but there was some vanilla coconut oak thing that just keep creeping in? Very big on the oak, and the sweetness in the fruit was just too much for me...especially when tasted next to the QC. Still, quite tasty with great feel...just had higher expectations.
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For someone who does not tend towards CA cabs this was surprisingly good at this realitively early stage. Good balance, structure, secondary flavors have just started to peak through. Fruit still has staring role but good balance and length. Finish is a bit too sweet for my preference would be primary complaint,
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Way too young to drink now, but showing impressively. Drank with the '97 Shafer Hillside Select. WOW! I cannot wait to see how the '02 evolves in 10 years.
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Popped and decanted for 3 hours. Dark opaque red with aromas of deep red cherry, currant, tobacco and spice. Immediate flavors of rich, silky smooth red fruits unfolding into deep secondary spice, and a streak of chocolate. Perfect balance and a pleasure to drink with a roasted filet. I found the wine a bit sweet on the finish but was immediately shouted down.
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amazing and powerful. Rich, but graceful, chocolate and juicy cherry and intense cab sauv. luxurious mouth-feel, prodigious finish. huge. one more bottle left
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Rich deep luxurious mouthfeel. Great nose. Lucious dark fruit. This was paired in a flight with Harlan and Verite La Muse and was the definite favorite of the group! Too bad it was my last bottle.
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Clearly this is the best non cult, cult wine from California. Still deep in color, licorice, jammy blackberry, vanilla, cassis, earth, cocoa and spice scents are made more complex with the massive, intense wall of delicious, juicy, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon that covers your palate. Shafer Hillside Select is one of the few California Cabernet Sauvignon’s that improve and evolve with age. At a fraction of what the big boys costs, if you’re seeking one fo the best wines from the Golden State, look no further.
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Deep garnet. Nose was a smmoth mix of berries, winter spices and vanilla cream. Taste was a tad too warm, slightly enphasizing the ending alcohol, but it was mouth filling, berries, vanilla. Very good and a shame it was warm as it would possibly have shown better.
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Decanted for one hour, then back in bottle for serving 2 hours later. Big fruit, with tannins showing this one still has years to go. That said, it drank beautifuuly tonight and was a real drinking pleasure.
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Popped and poured. Mouth coating cassis, cherry, & cocoa. Velvety sense of weight covering every nook & cranny of the palate. Not so much evolution in the decanter but really turned up to eleven with steaks. Too uncomplicated to be 100 pts, but it does what it does very well. Wine of the night for 3 of 4 diners, with the 2003 Quilceda Creek taking a not too shabby 2nd place.
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Did a Shafer HSS lunch with Dan, Donna, Alison, Brian, Frank, Dave and Dave at Angelini Osteria in Hollywood. Tasted the 97, 99, 01, 02, 03, 04 and 06 vintages around 2:30pm. Wines were served in pairs of 2 with the always over the top tasting menu that Dan designed with Gino. Bravo. What an amazing lunch. The 02 was my WOTN closely followed by the 99 and the 04. The 02 is a big, in your face black fruit bomb! White chocolate and vanilla nose. Cream de cassis on the wonderful mid-pallet, long finish. The best juice I've had from Shafer. It was really very cool to see how the same producer’s vintages vary from year to year. The 01 and 02 are very different wines yet only one year apart. This 02 will certainly age for many years to come, but is in a great spot right now. Dave - what a way to pop your shafer cherry, hunh?
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In a nice place and showing signs of secondary development. Mature nose, with pretty, pure fruit on the palate. Excellent wine, though not quite up to the hype.
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A great Cab from a great vintage. Shared with great friends over a fabulous meal. Decanted, plums, fresh raisins, anise, and spice on the nose. Seamless on the palate. Tannins are there bult melt away after seconds. Flavors of black currant, blueberries and plums pump through on a fine path over minute finish. Yummy stuff. A treat!
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Deep garnet. Nose of plums, black fruits and anise. Taste was similar, a rich cab that initially had a slight alcoholic finish, but melded into a smooth tipple. Rich and great, but not at the 100 points it was a few years ago.
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Second plunge into nirvana fantasy. Last taste was six months ago. Decanted for one hour. Good idea. The nose was softer than last time. So was the wine on the palate. Velvety smooth, well balanced with fresh fruit. This wine is just starting to open up. Very approachable and with sweet tannins. Blackberrys and hint of plum. The Shafers know what they are doing and charge accordingly. For those who are enchanted with Napa Cab and don't care about the cost, there is little doubt that this wine and this vintage cannot be beaten. Enjoy now or wait ten more years and watch it change.
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Alex says "velvet plums", I'm still reeling a bit from sticker shock (even though I bought on release day). It's Napa cab and drinking very young despite 9 years of age. Oak is primary and not fully integrated yet but "feels" like it will get there in a few more years. The wine the is "just" straight forward cab, it is easy to accept as is and not pick apart trying to find the complexity...should wine be complex our just great? Happy to says I got another one in cellar to ponder later. I'll probably wait another 5 yrs for it.
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Stunning Elegance. Classic and defining napa cab style, impeccably balanced acidity and integrated oak. However it's the taste and complexity of the fruit, and the ridiculously powerful finish that make this wine a legend. For me (and many others apparently), it's the complete package for CA wine. 97-100 points.
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SQN, Clerico, Hillside Select, Chave Hermitage, Rieussec: A wow wine for me for sure. The nose explodes from the glass. Cassis, cedar, some smoke, and spice. On the palate, this is young and vibrant but totally accessible. Lush. Great texture. Complex. Decades left to enjoy but this was not a waste to open right now. Everything I want in a Cal Cab.
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Wow! Layer after layer of flavor. One of the best wines I've had in the last couple years. Amazing purity of fruit and a finish that goes on for minutes. WOTN in an amazing lineup that included three first growths and a Screagle.
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Perhaps a classic illustration of how great wine may suffer if it doesn't get proper air, or alternatively, I'm in the camp with the reviews of Jeff Leve and Jeff Nowak. The generous host of the party placed this out on the wine table to be opened, so I obliged. P&P, with no opportunity to decant, and no place to stash the bottle to let it get some air before it was quickly emptied by unwitting party-goers sucking down whatever was open. Color very dark, seemingly black, opaque, and what appears to be full-body coating the glass. Served in what I call a "globe" glass that doesn't allow swirling (unless you like wearing your Hillside Select), I was able to gently coax some beautiful and powerful aromas of black currants, black cherries, blueberries, graphite and chocolate, and bits of well done oak poking through. On the palate, so much power and layers of dark fruit, and yet it is not heavy at all, which was admirable in and of itself. Tremendously tasty flavors of black currants, cherries, chocolate (both dark and milk), flowers from somewhere, and fine silty graphite adding texture. Seems tight starting in the mid, and major league polished tannins clamping down somewhat on the back end. This had the Wonka "Everlasting Gobstopper" finish, where it just keeps going, somehow introducing new bursts of flavor to an already-saturated palate. Overall outstanding from perspectives of flavor, balance, and finish, but it felt like there were a number of components not showing or that had not come together in a complete package yet, and so the experience was neither 100-point-perfect nor mind-blowing, no matter how much I wanted it to be. Even by numbers, I can't rate it higher than the '92 Dominus we had a couple months ago, which was much more elegant and complex and had an incredible youthful energy more like an '02. But again, maybe it was just the tasting circumstances for the HS. No doubt it has great potential.
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not decanted. an underachiever in the past, this is the best bottle i've had. not decanted. smooth enough to stand out. fruit is solid. still, this is a disappointment as a former WS WOTY
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Decanted, dark ruby color, full mouth feel. Dark cherry, hints of chocolate, very smooth and lingering finish. Drinking really well right now, has a lot of life left in it. Great bottle of wine, better then the 2001 IMO
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Dark ruby color leads to a huge nose of cassis, dark cherry and vanilla. Full body is perfectly balanced with flavors dark cherry, currant, tobacco box, and dark chocolate. This manages to be both very big and exceptionally fresh. Finish lasts for great than 1 minute. Amazing wine! Decanted for 1 hour and drank over another 2 hours - continued to improve throughout night.
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Today is the "Bin Laden day" and I decided to drink my best US made wine. My choice was the 2002 Shafer which was rated 100 by Parker and it didn't disappoint! Amazing concentration, minerality and balance! It expresses Napa at it's best - 100% Cabernet and there is not a flaw in this wine and it drinks very well at this point. Sorry that I'm feeling so patriotic today (even though I'm not a US citizen) but the US has much to be proud of - including this wine! The closest wine that comes to mind is the 2001 Le Pin which is one of my all time favorites. This comparison can be argued, but both are a perfect expression of fruit forward terroir oriented wines. Anyway, it's a great day and I'm enjoying this wine.
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Good fruit and some spice on the nose. Red fruit balanced with acid and soft tannins in the palate. Spice and a medium finish. Still has time to go in the cellar.
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Think of a perfect Napa cab both full and light on its feet with dense texture and yet surprising elegance and this is what you get. This is Stag's Leap District at its best.
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STG End of Year (Roy's): tasted blind OK, so THIS is Cali cab. Intensely forthright on the nose, with gobs of fruit and caramel and all sorts of yumminess. THe palate was exactly what the nose promised, though with pedigree to last much longer. Both younger and more voluptuous than the other wines in the flight. I kind of suspected the producer, and was happy to taste this into my own personal oblivion. But for 'real wine' experiences, I still prefer the 1991 Dominus.
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Double decanted and consumed over the course of 3.5 hours. As some other recent tasters have noted, this is a solid wine but its just not strutting its stuffing yet. We're major HSS fans and this just isn't ready now. While tight, its not tight in the sense that you just get oak as you do with many wines; there's dark fruit brooding in there somewhere, and there's no overpowering wood. While enjoyable, the components just haven't aged and melded together yet, and I'm not posting a score as a result - this needs time as its an non-event at present.
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Dark and Bold. Plenty of stuffing that suggests a long life ahead. But drinking very well right now. Would have wished to have resisted for a few years longer. Will wait on bottle #2.
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This is a MASSIVE wine, giving up nothing. Similar to the 2006 Colgin IX Estate I had last year (also an RP 100 pointer). Concentrated and black. I enjoyed it. Not a fruit bomb, not overly tannic and Not Ready. Not even close. I have a couple more of these and I will be waiting til 2015 at least before I hit the next one. Reminiscent of the 2005 Bdx tasting I went to last year. Pure concentrated fruit, but no real nuance.
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Shafer Hillside Select often makes one of the top wine California Cabernets. In 1997, it's a reference point wine. But I did not get that from the 2002. It's not so much quality as it is a stylistic preference. 2002 Hillside Select is packed and stacked with jammy blue and black fruit, brown sugar, tobacco and dark cherry notes. The palate is coated with dense layers of jammy, ripe and over ripe berries. This is a concentrated, powerful wine. The finish shows some heat and thick jammy textures. I have friends that love this wine. While I see the quality, the over the top styling's of this wine make it hard to like. Perhaps it's just too much of a good thing.
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decanted. a wine you can't easily fault, but neither can you get too excited about. certainly a WS WOTY flop in my book. i've had some sensational HSSs; this isn't one of them, although it displayed enough guts to warrant one "atta-boy."
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Opened for 6 hrs, then decanted for 1. Dark garnet and purple, with some age showing as amber around the rim. Incredible nose of sweet vanilla/caramel tinged spice and dusty cherry. Some more complex nuances of cedar and pine and a little anise- but the wood is pronounced. Still primary in the midpalate presenting with a fully loaded fruit profile. The finish didn't hold up to expectations, but that's not saying this isn't a great wine. A great example of Stag's Leap fruit. Amazing balance of fruit, acid, alcohol and tannin.
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Really shy upon opening and decanting, it didn't show well against an 02 Harlan and an 02 Sloan. But wait...it started to come alive after about an hour or two in the decanter and if we had just given all of the wines a little time, there would have been a beter comparison. I really can't say what this wine is really like as I don't think it got a fair shake in the comparison.
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One one THE most elegant Cabernet's I've ever tasted. Classic nose with the most rounded and well balanced taste and finish I've experienced in a lone time.
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Blind. decanted 1.5 hrs. Extremely dark and young looking. 95;92. I jokingly said when I saw it: I didn't know we had any 07 Shafer HSS. Fantastic nose; powdery, spicebox, chocolate-covered cherries, big but fresh. Mouthfeel is very fat, rich and end-to-end, exquisite. This wine has lots of tannins, you can feel after a while that the mouth is puckering, but while drinking it you get nothing of that, there is so much other stuff there. Sweet but with so much breadth and complexity. Best part is the aftertaste; at least a minute, sweet, candy, caramel, melted, dark licorice, semidark chocolate (50%) and huge amount of violets. Superb wine but too young to judge - I guessed an 07, could never have guessed an 02. 98-100 points.
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Needs a healthy decant to open up. Inky black velvety bliss. Vanilla pudding with blue and blackberries mixed in. 45 second finish. As good as advertised. Love these Hillside Selects.
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Drank side by side with2002 Sloan and it held its own. Thick cherry compote with some black berries. Well integrated, smooth long finish. Mouth coting and mouthfilling.
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Birthday wine enjoyed with dinner at Sunnyside in Tahoe. Absolutely fabulous with potential to be a stunning wine in time. Wonderful fruit and structure with finely grained tannins and a terrific finish. HOLD
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The 2002 Shafer Hillside Select is not quite as tight as I recall it being a few months ago. Decanted 2 hours before drinking. Deep garnet color. Flavors of candied dark fruits, red currants, plums, mineral, steel, cedar and graphite with sweet tannins. Still a giant wine that needs time to evolve. Great balance and very nice mouthfeel. Hold for 3 years before drinking (I need to start paying attention to my own notes). Yummy wine.
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The 2002 Shafer Hillside Select is a beautiful wine that is not quite ready for prime time. Dark purple/black color. Aromas of boysenberry and brown sugar upon opening. Decanted 3 hours before serving. Flavors of dark fruits, brown sugar, chocolate, cinnamon graham cracker, cedar, spice box and blackberries. Throughout the night, the wine was opening and closing down. When the door was open, this was an excellent, full-bodied wine with nice balance and layers of flavors. Still a little too early for this one. Not quite triple digits, but that may change in a few years. Best to circle back in 3 years.
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Dense dark purple garnet color. Nose ultra ripe dark cherries, vanilla-oak, anise and herbs. Hugh full body, dense concentration and a long lovely finish... This wine has the stuff I just wish I was tasting it 5 to 10 years from now... Still too young
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I was very excited about trying this wine at diner at Tribeca Grill in NYC. We decanted for 1.5 hours. I was expecting a lot for 100 pt RP wine. The wine really never developed for us. It was some what flat on the fruit side and the finish was hot. Still a lot of alcohol. It did open up a bit but the finish was muted with stong alcohol. I did have high expectations. The other issue is we had a half bottle of 02 Araujo Eisele Cab to start. That was VERY good and blew away the Shafer. I still give it a 90 but not worth the price.
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Beast. Punch to the face of ripe, extracted, concentrated dark fruit. Cassis liqueur, graphite, palate staining blackberry fruit. Dense but balanced with a brightness and luxuriousness that doesn't quit. Thanks Travis! 96pts.
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Decanted about 2 hours prior to tasting. Dark purple color. The nose had of currant and cassis aromas. The palate showed flavors of dark fruits with notes of chocolate and spice. Full bodied with a nice mouthfeel, and a long finish. This was the second time that I tasted this wine, but it seemed a bit shut down right now. It started to open up a bit more after about 4 hours, but still wasn't nearly as expressive as it was back in early 07. It was nice to be able to taste this wine again after a few more years of bottle age.
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I cannot really add much to the other tasting notes on this site. It is complex on the nose and in the mouth, and it is silky smooth with a great finish. This is one of those wine tasting experiences that anyone who likes California cabernets lives for. It is just stunning.
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Ripe black fruit and vanilla were the predominant scents that emanated from the glass. A really seductive nose that only increased anticipation. The first word that comes to mind after tasting the '02 SHS for the first time is massive. Flavors of tobacco, spice and chocolate accompany a cornucopia of black and blue fruit. The transition from the enormous upfront attack of voluptuous black fruit to a spicy mid-palate to a finish that goes on and on...and on is seamless. Silky texture and nice weight. As big as it is, there is a wonderful underlying structure that provides just the right amount of focus and restraint. This is the whole package in an unapologetically Cali new world style. While it could be characterized as over the top by some, if you enjoy Napa cabs, this for me was quite possibly the finest example I've ever had.
It was exhausting to consume this bottle in the best possible way. And still thinking about the finish...
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Massive wine, very primary. Full, bold black fruit, seemless integration. Won't be trying another for 5 years. Drank this at a tasting. Jeb liked it a bit more than I....a couple of the others kept on saying how young it was but kept on reaching for the decanter.
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Consistent with earlier notes. Complex, long finish, awesome nose and delicious. Blueberry, chocolate and lead pencil tastes. This is my third bottle and continues to impress.
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blueberry and pencil lead distinct on the nose. very sugarfied to my palate, very accesible right now. a little meh for me, feel like ive tasted this napa cab profile many times. definitely did not live up to the hype.
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Delmonico Wine Dinner (Delmonico Las Vegas): Gold medal winner of the night with broad consensus. I was a shade disappointed, but that's more my expectations talking and not the wine. The wine was outstanding from start to finish.
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Best Hillside I've had to date in terms of texture and harmony. Took a while to get going, but really came together in the glass. Chocolate galore on the palate with pleasing deep, dark cherry and black currant. Still some room to grow in the nose. Paired perfectly with a dry aged sirloin.
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Bithday Party at Prayote's House: Tasted blind, Deep ruby red with a very californian nose of red berries, vanilla, herbs & spices. Very ripe with sweet and delicate tannin. Very young, you can feel the bitterness.
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Celebration Dinner (Chicago): Full opaque purple red color. Clean nose of serious black fruit with cassis and licorice notes. big black chocolate tannic fruit with a hint of mint. Also quite ripe, but very focused. This wine has been good since release and should only get better.
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92;88 Very dark and dense but still not quite as massive looking or tasting as we have seen in the past. Soft feeling but still with very high acid, especially in the beginning. This wine also actually improved over night. 97p.
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Probably the best Cal Cab I have tasted. Tremendous layers of fruit, licorice, minerals, leather. Showed far better than the 2002 Harlan which was drunk alongside.
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DAMN - I meant to grab an 03 but picked an 02 by mistake . I did not notice until after it was in the decanter . I took a small sip right after decanting and thought WOW this wine is huge and this is the 03 !!! Not ... Glanced @ the cork and it said 2002 , damn grabbed the bottle , yup 02 . Oh well here comes a great wine and yes as far as I am concerned it lives up to most of it's hype . Is it 100 ??? What is perfection ? But the finish lasts forever it is massive & dark & brooding and , and , and pretty spectacular . I am sorry I opened it by mistake but it is one very impressive bottle of wine , now I have to really be careful w/ my remaining few
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blackberry, cassis, earth. big powerful mouth but with balance. good complexity, long long finish with dark fruits and mocha undertones. this wine was showing well tonight, perhaps the best napa cab I've had to date,
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Couldn’t decide to open this or the 01 but had read this was drinking well now. On splash decanting it showed a vibrant ruby/purple, with a purple rim in the glass. Upfront blackcurrant on the nose, some damson and clean mild spice. On the palate this shows its cards a Californian, like the Z-H is slides over the palate. Clearly ripe fruit and soft oak manages exceptional balance, full acidity and a saline moreish quality I always fins in SHS. This is tight but enjoyable if hedonistic. My favorite Cali Cab, although a mild underperformance from this bottle.
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Killer. Just Killer!! What can I say? This is the third or fourth bottle of this that I've had and it's been consistently on point. Drink up now. It won't get any better.
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Double Blind Tasting and Dinner (David Burke's Primehouse - Chicago IL): Tasted double blind. Black fruit with lots of new oak spice aromas. Same black fruit on palate, very good accompanying spice, starting to shed its baby fat and show early maturity, which unfortunately is making the alcohol more prominent. I thought this older when tasted blind. Not quite as exciting as i recall from when last tasted a couple of years ago.
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Weber's Blind Tasting Competition (Primehouse): Full opaque purple color. Huge nose o fbright black fruit - clean and bright. Big rich chocolate covered raspberries on the palate. This was pretty easy to nail as a Cali cab. I've had this wine 5-6 times over the past couple years and while this was still a GREAT wine, it may have dropped off a point and could be starting to close down a bit from its sweet exhuberant youth... 94+ pts.
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Enjoyed at the Banff Springs (brought from our cellar, enjoyed in the room). Hard to imagine a better CA Cab. Perfect, delicate balance. Concentrated cassis and so so pure. Simply remarkable.
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Popped and poured (in Dixis cups, no less)! Absolutely amazing. Perfect cork. Thick and dark, with a nose dominated by blackberries, cassis, and a bit of vanilla. Unbelievably young and fruit driven on the tongue still, but will solid structure, fine tannins, dark fruit, and vanilla from the toasted oak. I'm going to wait a bit before opening the others. These seem to better and better integrated as time goes on.
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deep garnet. VA in the nose that eventually quieted down, but never left. Black fruits and spices on the nose also. Taste was magnificant and the VA was the only detracter for me for this bottle.
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Dinner with Otto (Backstreet): Blackberries, leather and earth. Rich and a touch over extracted to a point where it tastes a bit reduced. Powerful finish. Very young and closed. Quite tiring to drink. Could use a bit more acidity to freshen everything up and make it more lively on the palate. The last few times I've had this it showed much better. Off bottle perhaps. 14.9% alcohol.
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1/08 Dark inky purple - concentrated cassis boysenberry black fruit - intense - chocolate tannic toasty oak finish - very young- have tasted this several times with same thought - way too early. 96 pts.
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VERY primary despite a 2 hour decant. i would certainly expect this to evolve and open with excellent cellaring. a massive wine, that has great potential. yet, this bottle seemed a little out of sorts.
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very similar in style to 97 Bryant ... huge fruit nose with hints of candy-fruit ... fruity and expansive on the palate ... dark liquorice, dark fruit ... long finish
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Boisterous on the nose, big on the palate. Currants, cedar, and blackberries. Classic cab. Just needs some time now to develop some complexity. Could easily see this a few points higher with some age.
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dark purple to the rim, and again a very powerful, intense nose similar to the others ('02 Screagle, Harlan), but kicked up a notch. Tons of currants, licorice, plus a bit of spiciness and some floral notes. Very full-bodied, mouth-coating, layers of lush fruit, and a more powerful finish than the others, it was just edged out by the Harlan for me because the alcohol peeked through just a bit on the finish. Picky, picky. 98 points
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Had at Christmas dinner at home. Just an amazing wine. More refined this time, with great complex fruit exhibited with a very long finish. When you drink this wine, it just screams quality. It will be interesting to visit this site some day.
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One of the best young wines I've ever consumed. So young but so good with 6 hours in the decanter. A monumental effort that is only going to get better with some age. Too bad I've only got one bottle left.
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Not sure this is a 100 but you are not going to get closer. Nose of chocolate, nutmeg, blueberries and licoice. Looooong finish, full 60-90 seconds. Tastes of dark fruit, espresso, cocoa and pepper on the finish. Multi layered complexity that makes this unique. Needs about an hour decant but after that is very approachable. Unbelieveable wine.
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Purchased from the list at a great price. As soon as the bartender popped the cork, the nose smacked me in the face (from about 5 feet away). I knew this was going to be good. Pop and pour - did not decant.
Gobs of dark chocolate, smoke, and dark fruit initially on the nose. The palate is incredibly silky yet oh so concentrated and precise. This has to be the most well blalanced young cabernet I've tasted in recent memory. Loads of chocolate and more smoke/characol on the palate. And the finish - oh so looooooong. Must have lingered for a good 90 seconds.
As the wine evolved, the nose transformed into a rich cassis and clove. More of the same on the palate and the chocolate was still oh so apparent. Consumed over the course of two hours or so and the last sip was the best.
This was brooding, rich and powerful. Clearly one of my top 5 wines of this year - however I do think I slightly prefer the 2001 version of this wine. It's not quite as rich and showy, but I think it may ultimately prevail after time in the cellar.
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eRobert Parker Offline - Best of Cellar (Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix): Boysenberry, blueberry, earth and leather. Well balanced with good acidity. Complex mid palate. Powerful and rich on the finish but still maintains some very nice complexity. This wine has really evolved this past year for the better.
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This is the second time over the last several months that i've enjoyed this wine and this time it felt less big, but was still one of the most amazing wine experiences i can remember. Last time it came after '97 chateau montelena, this time it was the first wine of the night. We didn't decant long which showed in the glass as it got more complex over after about 30 minutes or so. Complex nose, deep rich fruit, and an elegant and pleasing finish. At Country in NYC with Felix, Edith, Michael G., David A., and Ashley.
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1 bottle, from the wine list at Jake's Restaurant, October 2007, $290. A revelation! Dark purple color. Intense aromas of very ripe dark fruits, anise, and lilly. Incredible on the palate; full-bodied, with an extremely velvety mouthfeel. Long and complex finish; incredible structure. This was truly a joy to taste and consume.
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I had been anxiously awaiting my time to sample the '02 Hillside Select. Johnny had been sayin' we could bring it to Joe's, but I didn't believe it until we were in the lobby with it tucked under his arm. We opened the bottle upon sitting down and started with a bottle of the '05 Emeritus Pinot Noir. This paired wonderfully with our King Crab Legs and Stone Crab claws. Upon pouring the wine was an extraordinary deep purple, black at the core. The nose was not jumping out of the glass as I would have thought, yet it was extremely unique to anything I had smelled before. After two hours upon opening, the wine truly began to open. Notes of lush dark cherry, smooth minerals and layers of tobacco, coal, charred wood and baked goods. The wine felt like no other on the palate. Light and lingering. The balance of tannins, acidity and alcohol is FLAWLESS. The finish lasted for 70 seconds. Remarkable. I only wish every wine lover could experience what I did with the 2002 Shafer Hillside Select. The best wine that has ever touched my lips to date.
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I had been dying to taste this wine for a long time, so I came in early to the restaurant and asked Meghan, the sommelier, to please decant it 2 hours prior to our arrival. The bottle is so big and heavy, I thought they'd opened a magnum when I saw our waiter bringing it in from the cellar! This wine is incredible dark. Pitch black with purple hues. The nose is very fruity and a bit simple. What sets it apart is the intensity of aromas. Not a lot of complexity here, but the intensity is remarkable and very, very appealing. This is like listening to the same song in two different CD players. The notes and lyrics are somewhat similar, but this one is playing at full volume. After smelling it, I know this won't hit the 100 point mark for me. I really require a lot more diversity of aromas and complexity to garner the perfect score. After tasting it, I must say, it came close! This is one of the most concentrated wines I have ever tasted, but it is neither heavy nor over the top. This is concentrated essence of the vine in a bottle. What a G R E A T palate impression this wine left on me. Very full bodied, in complete balance, with just the right amount of acidity, tannin and oak. This is a delicious wine that can very well be the model for every Napa cab in the lower altitude areas. I am glad I had it. It is an awesome wine to savor slowly, even if the foodies complain it really isn't that food friendly a wine. I believe this is the highest socre I have ever given a Napa Cab.
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CLONYC 6 - Cultish Cabs (Philip Marie): If it is possible to feel bad for a wine, I feel bad for this one. I've had it a couple of times and I think it really suffers for the albatross of the 100 point score. That's perfection, so it's almost like a gotcha trying to find flaws instead of enjoying it for what it is...an extraordinary wine. That said, I'm not sure of the value of opening this wine now, other than to track its evolution. I just find it to be a massive wall o' wine right now, not unlike tasting a young first growth (which is probably an apt comparison). An inch wide and a mile deep. Nonetheless, everything is there and one can't help admiring it for what it will be if what it is now is something less. Like watching a young Mozart.
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The Wine Summit: Shafer Hillside Select - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - 10:45 A.M. (The Post Hotel in Lake Louise, AB): Deep purple/black with virtually no rim; sweet flowing aromas full of berry fruit – spices, black currants, toast and some anise; creamy texture – full bodied with a large dose of concentrated sweet black currant fruit, which rises on the palate in waves and carries out to an extremely long finish. Once again, all of the parts here for a wonderful wine – just needs a bit of time. I’d like to taste this one again in 5 years.
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On the nose deep fruit, currants, blueberries and floral elements. Amazing tannic grip, very young. Need alot of time to calm down. Texture and weight are amazing. Incredible long mouth watering finish. My first 100 pt wine. Did not agree with parker.
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Dried cherry, raspberry, vanilla. Ruby/purple at the core, slight fading at the rim. Aromatics were not all that strong, but it was tasted outside at the winery, and I find it difficult to assess the nose when outdoors. A much lighter Hillside than expected. Red fruits dominate. Very straightforward for all the hype this vintage of Hillside is getting. It might not have been a great showing for this wine because of the '02 Teachworth I had earlier in the day, which is a much more concentrated, complex and compelling wine.
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youngest 100 point wine I've ever tasted/awarded. A table full of mostly non-geeks were speechless and was by acclaim the red/WOTN. Oh my friggin Gawd. Boy, do I love Shafer HSS and this was the pinacle. I'm still tasting it 3 days later. PS-it was double-decanted 24 hours prior to drinking.
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Decanted 60 minutes. Very full wine, nicely balances and integrated tannins. Deep berry flavors with a hint of asian spice. Another great effort by Shafer.
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Deep color in the glass. Nose more laid back than expected (bottle had been open a few hours, in the glass about an hour) but had some nice fruit and earthy notes. Stunning on the palate with a velvety mouth feel, softer than expected for an '02 Cab, very concentrated. LONG finish with mocha, tobacco and earthy notes. This was the highlight of the Napa tastings, although it certainly needs some time to integrate. If I owned any, I wouldn't touch it for a few years.
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Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Dinner (1989-2002) (California Club, Los Angeles, CA): This was drinking better than the 2001, but I don't think it will go the distance that the 2001 will. Surprisingly mature for its youth, with dazzling cassis, blackberry, and cedar notes. Creamy dark chocolate finish sails on forever. A decadent wine for a decadent evening.
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Decanted for approximately 30 minutes. Deep flavors of blackberry, plum and spice. Rich legs, tantalizing bouquet, and a very ong finish. This wine is a show-stopper that opened up and got more intriguing with every taste. This was the third wine of the night at Pat's going away party - a great time with Pat F. and his wife, Pat R. and his wife, Jim, Michael, Libby, Joan from Ireland and Suzanne.
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Darker and more viscous than the 2001. The first word that comes to mind is "fresh". Sweet, chocolate and lead pencil. Oak. Full body and excellent length. Overall better than 2001 at this stage.
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Overdone nose reminiscent of just about every other wannabe "high end" Cali Cabernet. Lots of flashy vanilla and dark fruits. Rich, ripe palate with lots of alcohol and abundant fine tannins. Very enjoyable, just not special.
Not suprisingly, better after a few hours open - fewer seams and less overt.
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Wow. Okay, as the third wine, following two superlative wines, it's hard coming up with the words, but this is hands down phenomenal. Period. Rich, lush, big-but-not-over-the-top, red and black fruits, chocolate, surprisingly approachable tannins, loooooong finish. Sadly, I don't have a lot to add, but this wine deserves a lot more.
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We served this wine at the dinner following our civil wedding on April 13. Selected from the wine list ($225 per) at the Milton Inn located in Sparks,MD earlier when setting up the menu I had asked the staff to decant about 90 minutes prior to our arrival. With a few guests arriving late the decant time was proably in the 2 hour range by the time it first hit my glass. In a sign of good things to come a friend sitting about 10 feet way was watching the pour and immediately said how he had caught the aroma already! This wine was amazing and I must say that the buzz surrounding it is justified in my opinion. Incredible nose of black berries, a bit of spice and somewhere in the back just the faintest hint of licorice and what I call wrapper tobacco - the tobacco on the outside of an unlit cigar, a bit sweet almost but tobacco nonetheless. The oak (there was oak right?) was so well integrated as to be at most a subtle overtone, just the slightest char note on the finish. Tannins were there, providing some grip, but this wine exhibited no rough edges whatsoever. The finish was smooth and long, long long. Having enjoyed three bottles now I have to say that this wine is just amazing. Drinking incredibly well with freshness, structure and integration now yet with underlying power that to me indicates that, as hard as it is to think, there are better days ahead.
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This wine although still a baby is very enjoyable with the five hourse of decanting I gave. We drank this blind with my wine group and a couple of people picked it as a merlot that's how approachable it is. I have no doubt that this wine will evolve into one of the great Hillsides over the next 5-10 years. If you have any of these in your cellar you are lucky.
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Had this bottle at Michael Mina in SF, on 3/16 with friends and family. The most remarkable thing about this cab is that it's got such highly structured tannins, that are so well integrated that they don't detract in any way from enjoying this young wine now. Very concentrated, opaque, aromas of licorice and currant...beautifully long finish...everyone at the table was blown away. I can't imagine how good this will be in 10+ years, but will sit on my remaining cache to find out!
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SWEET TANNINS WITH BLACKBERRIES AND CHERRIES IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR WITH HINTS OF CHOCOLATE AND LICORICE. VERY COMPLEX AND A VERY LONG LINGERING FINISH.
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Shafer HSS. 92;87. Most of us agreed that in our opinion the 01 is better than the 02!? It was also a bit lighter than we are used to seeing the HSS. It was still dark but not as black as most vintages are. Good luscious nose of sweet black currants, roasted fruit and sweet smoke - almost syrah-like, even port-ish. Great lively mouthfeel and great balance. Spice and black currant in the mouth. Very long aftertaste with anise, brown sugar and vanilla. Lynn docked it for balance issues (tannins not big enough for the fruit, made the wine a bit ’easy’). 99p
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Wow! This was great. Lots of ripe fruit but plently of complexity hiding underneath. Full bodied, intense and silky. Not at all over the top as I had feared. This wine tasted beautiful but will certainly improve with age.
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Fantasy football championship coronation and awards ceremony (Commish's place): Decanted for about 15 minutes before we began tasting, but the aromas coming from the decanter enticed us to start drinking it earlier than we had planned. Deep inky color. Nose of blackberry and spice. Flavors of currant with some vanilla and toffee or caramel. Full bodied wine with great mouthfeel and balance. Nice finish that lasted close to a minute. WOTN by far, and one of the best wines we've ever had.
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Shafer Hillside Select Vertical (Zealous - Chicago, IL): Deep dark ruby to purple in color. Layered and dense nose has chocolate and blue fruit. Luscious, fat and ripe fruits. Delicious. But so disjointed. I had a damn hard time with this wine. Difficult to figure out --- like a barrel-sample. Shades of the '01 but just not together. 5+13+16+8=92
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Decanted 3 hours, awesome wine with fine grained tannins that clamped down on the finish. The best young cabernet I've ever tasted, cannot wait to try again in 2012!
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Drank with the fam for Christmas Dinner with horseradish crusted tenderloin. Decanted for 2 hours in open Riedel cabernet decanter and consumed over 1.5 hours. Started off tight still, with very fine tannins. Started to shine at the end of the night with beautiful balance and pure fruit. I guess it did not live up to it's 100pt reputation, but it was damn fine. Upside potential in the future, but I cannot guess how long lived this wine will be.
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A Pre-Christmas dinner in Calgary 02 Shafer HSS, 00 Pavie (Cilantro's): I should preface this by acknowledging that I don't really get HSS. Decanted for roughly 5 hours. Huge jammy nose followed by smoke and black fruits. On the palate this wine is amazingly balanced for such a young wine. No hard edges and it was drinking extremely well. These really are accessible now and should develop nicely. Honestly though I have 11 bottles and 2 mags left and wonder if my money shouldn't have been spent elsewhere.
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After a tasting of the 1995 Hillside at Shafer I had to put Hillside on my list of wines to get and this one far exceeded the 95 that I had! I was looking for flaws with it and couldn't really find any. Dark Purple in color the nose is incredible with lots of black fruit. Blackcurrant, blackberry, vanilla and choclolate are very noticable. The alcohol is 14.5% but you couldn't tell from the taste, there is no heat to this wine at all, it's very well balanced. The mouthfeel is very smooth with silky tannins. I timed the finish at well over one minute. I wonder if there's enough acidity for long term aging but what the hey, I doubt I will be able to keep my hands off my second bottle for more than a few years...
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Decanted for 2+ hours and served. This is without a doubt the finest wine I have enjoyed. Pure Cabernet essence. Dark and layered nose. Cassis, currant and some blackberry with mild licorice and great graphite flavors. Drops left in the glass still present an intense nose hours later. The depth and interplay of flavors of the palate is striking. Enough acid to keep it light but with great intensity and balance. Perfect structural frame, but overwhelmed by fruit right now. The finish blows you away. If there is a 100 point wine for me, this is probably it, but i will reserve judgement for my next bottle.
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I must've missed the boat on this one at least in late 2006...Soooooo exracted that it was like syrup, I had just polished an 89 Margaux and a 97 Jarvis so based on all the hype I was expecting to be overwhelmed by the 02 HSS, not the case...
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Had at Gibson's in Chicago. Amazing deep red color with awesome aromas involving black currants, black raspberries, licorice, blueberries and hint of vanilla and toasted oak. Amazingly smooth wine that opened up even more after an hour (I would have like to have checked it again after a longer period, but we drank it). This wine coated the glass, and the finish lasted more than 40 seconds--probably longer, but there was a steak in front of me. Surprisingly smooth texture for such a young wine. Unbelievable potential in the future for this wine--not surprised if it rates higher later down the road.
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Wine Spectator Grand Tasting (Marriott Hotel, San Francisco, CA): Incredible wine. Deep purple color. Intense, deep and complex. Aromas/flavors of black currant, smoke, blackberry, vanilla and chocolate. Immense layers of flavors wrapped in well-integrated, fine tannins. Tremendous lenght on the finish lasting over 60 seconds!!! This is one of the best wines I have ever tasted. Top notch effort. Would have been WOTN if not for the price.
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One of the most complex, deep and intensely flavored wine that I have ever tasted. Huge red/black fruit with velvety smooth tannins. Layer upon layer of flavors and a seemingly endless finish produce a wine that inundates the senses.
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4/26/2024 - dbg wrote:
Outstanding
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4/8/2024 - DCHawkeye Likes this wine: 98 Points
One of the only dozen or so non-Old World wines in my stash, this makes a pretty competing case for dipping into Napa every couple decades. This is probably at, or very close to, peak. Decanted to start dinner, this is a beautiful Napa cab.
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2/26/2024 - Elkcims Likes this wine: 97 Points
Slo-ox 2-3 hours drank over 2 days. Deep and brooding from the get go and improved over time. Black currant, blackberry, chocolate, leather, iron notes. Pleasant acidity balanced nicely with dry tannins. Holding up nicely, but not as vibrant or complex as I experienced a decade ago. Enjoyed with bone-in ribeye tomahawk steak.
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1/26/2024 - Shugs_Claret wrote: 99 Points
Phenomenal bottle. Cork was a bit dried out but bottled stuffed full of goodness. Black and blue fruit. Oak fully integrated. Velvety tannins. Profound throughout. Popped and poured.
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12/25/2023 - IndyTom Likes this wine: 96 Points
No doubt that is an outstanding wine. Refined, seamless, delicious. But is it worth $427 at auction? Reminds me that I would rather have 10 bottles of a great $40 wine than one bottle of $400 wine.
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12/23/2023 - philweird Likes this wine: 95 Points
Fantastic. Opened a magnum for a steak and lobster dinner and decanted for two hours. Don’t think it evolved much as the night progressed but Seems to have a lot of life left
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12/4/2023 - jsebiri wrote:
Big boy wine @ 20+ years. Plenty of fruit , rich nose, Good wine, very dark purple, I think this wine was better 10 years ago. Last 2 glasses were vac'd up and 5 nights later the wine was noticeably more interesting.
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11/1/2023 - Montesquieu Likes this wine: 95 Points
Outstanding but not transcendent. Smooth, mature, rich and but not tertiary fruit. Some subtle soil and tar notes added complexity. I doubt this improves from here.
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10/23/2023 - Frank Schneider wrote: 98 Points
No three digits today. But sure fantastic
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8/13/2023 - dbkitc wrote: 94 Points
Blackberry, nutmeg, creamy, forceful. Power nose. Sweet, mature fruit. A bit much for me - missing a balancing element. It a very fine wine for sure, just not my style. I will be drinking my other two bottles soon as I think more time may push it further into a sweet only mode. (94)
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7/27/2023 - melvinyeowq wrote: 88 Points
Fantastic new-worlds: A big boy kind of wine with powerful, extracted black fruit. Better than the 1999 that I tried previously but this felt unbalanced still, especially next to the Opus which was a better wine in my opinion. Not my kind of wine.
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12/11/2022 - levinml wrote: 97 Points
Best cab I’ve had in a while. Drank with Ash B at dinner. Aired in wine glasses for an hour during cocktails. Great everything. Round, full bodied, long finish, great flavors and tannins in balance. Don’t get that very much any more.
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11/26/2022 - Bælledyret Likes this wine: 97 Points
What a bomb! Dark fruited, velvety, cedar box and just pure comfort. Needed 1 hour decanting to open up.
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10/5/2022 - AlexHop Likes this wine: 99 Points
Still intense dark fruit. Bold and rich crushed herbs and minerals plenty of age left in it. Long finish that keeps going with classic aged cab characteristics.
Almost perfect.
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9/22/2022 - Shugs_Claret wrote: 98 Points
This is a baby. Mixed berry fruit on the nose with tobacco leaf and leather starting to show a bit more. Still some oak yet to integrate.
Cassis and dark fruit dominate the palate. Does not seem overdone given the surplus of chewy tannins that have yet to soften. Oak still persists a bit.
Consider checking on this in 20 years...seriously.
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5/13/2022 - jjct Likes this wine:
Powerful. Soaring rich fruit framed by dusty minerality. Not my usual fare, but I am enjoying this very much with a nice Aussie wagyu. Seems fully resolved and ready to go.
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4/15/2022 - CHarder Likes this wine: 99 Points
Still crazy good. Full, smooth, round snd just in a perfect spot. Think it will hold for at least 5yrs - probably not improve though
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2/21/2022 - ahgoodman Likes this wine: 98 Points
Still lots of life left
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12/22/2021 - Kevnzworld wrote: 96 Points
1 hour decant prior to Linda’s Xmas party.
Black cherry, vanilla oak and dusty ash on the finish . Somewhat too concentrated for my palate that evening after drinking Bordeaux, but overall nice.
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12/19/2021 - KenK Likes this wine: 98 Points
A true “wow” wine and the best Shafer HSS poured on an evening with about a dozen vintages. A hedonistic dream. Absolutely killer ripe strawberry cherry fruit with tremendous purity and depth. Long rich and creamy with sweet tannins and balancing acid keeping it fresh. Simply delicious with a sense of real breed. Still comes across young and vibrant. yum yum juice. Not for the faint of heart or those with palates favoring a more dry earthy leaner styled wine. However, if you like fruit in your wine, wow!
Champagne Gala
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12/18/2021 - mxpbuy Likes this wine: 97 Points
Decanted 1+ hours. This was in a perfect spot. Gobs of nearly jammy black and blue fruits. Touches of mocha. Nice vanilla Oak with some dusty tannins and eucalyptus and lavender. Velvety smooth.
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12/17/2021 - Burgundy Al wrote:
Holiday Champagne Gala (Park Ridge Country Club): A big step up vs the 2004 and 2001 Sunspot, but still more fleshy and flashy than what I would prefer. Still, lots here with very good concentration and nearly balanced. Wine of the Night for some.
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8/14/2021 - CHarder Likes this wine: 100 Points
This is basically perfect. Fruit remains, fresh but smooth. Full but light on its feet.
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7/18/2021 - BoulderWine Likes this wine: 96 Points
At Todd’s in Sonoma (pre-move). PnP. Incredibly rich dark fruit. A really intense, delicious wine. Still has a lot left but so glad that Todd opened it for us. (14.9% alc)
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6/23/2021 - Cailles wrote: 96 Points
Small vertical of Hillside Select 1994/2002/2016. All wines showed great with unbelievably complex aroma profiles, laser-sharp precision, and an impeccable structure. They have the Napa fruit and ripeness but all is well dosed and with so much hillside minerality to balance it. The 1994 (97pts) was almost Bordeaux-esque and almost fully mature (the opposite of a very young bottle 2 years ago). The 2002 (96pts) is slowly getting there, shows incredibly complex but still has to lose some baby fat. The 2016 (97+pts) is of course very young but the most singular 2016 Napa I‘ve had to date (out of probably 30) and is a great promise for the future.
TN: Very expressive nose with lots of cassis and blackberries, strong minty notes, some baby fat, baking spices and a touch minerality. The palate shows much more layered and ever changing with lots of ripe but not too ripe dark fruit and blue fruit, graphite and some ashy minerality and smoke, herbs, with time red fruit, violets, hints of chocolate and baking spices as well as some first shy tertiary aromas with fresh tobacco. The wine has a massive but fine tannin structure which is in need of further ageing and a good freshness but not with the same tension great Bordeauxs have (and I guess the 2016 will have at the same point in its life). Easily 96+ points.
Decanting: Quickly double-decanted 7 hours before consumption, good from the go.
Glass: Conterno Sensory
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5/26/2021 - acheng wrote: 93 Points
Can’t believe the price hike on this wine now. Deep garnet. Wonderful oak spice cinnamon and cardamom with sweet dark fruit and cassis. No need to hold longer.
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4/24/2021 - sirpat00 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Tasted blind as part of a mini-vertical (1994, 2002, 2016). All 3 bottles were only double-decanted as no longer decant was needed. This being blind, it was hard to find the common denominator that would have given away a vertical with all three wines showing very distinct features. In terms of ranking #1 was 2002 followed by 2016 and 1994.
Tasting note
A ton of liquorice, cranberry, black currant, blueberry, fine cedar wood and milk chocolate. Very concentrated and super intense. Great tension with an electric and long finish. Acidity and tannin woven into a luxurious robe. Baking spices, more leather and smoke. Sumptuous and incredibly refined, great detail. A polished yet cool fruit. This is mind-blowingly amazing. Fun fact: At 1.6kg the bottle is almost twice as heavy as a regular bottle and was also heavier than the other two.
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4/18/2021 - Fractals888 Likes this wine: 96 Points
dark berries, chocolate, and creme de cassis on the palate. Silky tannins with a nice and long finish. Tannins are non-existent at this point, just about to enter the 'age of wisdom' for a cab.
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4/6/2021 - AlexHop Likes this wine: 99 Points
Wow, lives up to the hype. Expressive gorgeous nose. Elegant with dark fruit notes and subtle spices. Tannins have become round but still have a lot of muscles. Wood flavors and smoke. Long finish.
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3/20/2021 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 98 Points
Just an amazing wine that is as smooth as silk yet still full fruited and quite youthful. Some secondary notes but this wine remains fresh and maybe immortal? Again Shafer HHS is at the top of anything from Napa.
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1/9/2021 - Topper wrote: 95 Points
This is the first one of these that I have opened. At 18 years of age, it is still big. It is clearly a very well made wine, with emphasis on concentration and abundance of flavor. I would say that it is a very impressive wine, but perhaps more impressive than delicious. I would trade this for an 02 Phelps Insignia for drinking in 2021. Where the 'delicious' quality wins out.
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12/31/2020 - levinml wrote:
Not sure what to make of this. Drank New Year's Eve with prime rib. Decanted for a couple hours before first drink and frankly this just had a funny mid-palate taste. Not bad, off or funky, just a fruit or flavor I didn't like. May have been me (taste buds getting over a cold) so just not sure what to think.
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11/23/2020 - shaferguy91 wrote: 95 Points
Excellent but I don't believe it has reached its peak yet. Still very young. Hold 3-5 years more.
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9/12/2020 - Eventrider Likes this wine: 93 Points
Enjoyed for 25th Wedding Anniversary
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6/30/2020 - hfindlay Likes this wine:
“No hard edges here!” was our theme for this beautiful bottle of wine. Typical for the Hillside Select, there’s plenty of structure, but it’s so graceful and so enveloped in a soft, sweet, velvety mouthfeel, that it’s hardly noticeable. Rich aromas of black fruit, cedar, flowers. Such balance and liquid weight on the palate, with loads of ripe berry flavors, licorice, and a touch of toasty vanilla. But the best thing about this wine is the finish ... an eternity of “yum” as the wine slips down your throat, warms your chest, and lands in your belly, sending out ripples. So worth all the time and expense it takes to score this cult cab!
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6/28/2020 - davidandrose Likes this wine:
Open this up a week ago and whether decanted or out of the bottle, there were prune and alcohol notes that led me to believe this might have suffered transportation damage. Returned it all to the bottle and gassed it off.
Reopened a week later as a pop and pour. Still not stellar nor what I expect from the property, reaffirming my transport damage fear, but certainly still drinkable and enjoyable. Prune on the nose with a hint of green, alcohol and you can sense a port like finish developing. Still, enjoyed by all who didn’t know the price or provenance.
No rating
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5/16/2020 - steinersing wrote: 95 Points
clearly Napa style depth and fruit, but I was particularly impressed by the depth and length and this wine finding a balance.
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5/16/2020 - Collector1855 wrote: 94 Points
During a Zoom tasting, blind. We had a lot of rich Bordeaux blends in this flight and people found it hard to place. Even votes for Spain were in the mix. Well, these new World CabSav are hard core in terms of density and sweetness, if you frequently drink Burgundy like me that you know what I mean. Not up my alley and so I am glad that this is my last bottle. To be fair, this wine found the most accolades in the flight as it had enough tannic stricture to support its XXL ripe frame. I scored it 94, if you like these types of rich Napa wines you can a point or two higher, but not much more (see my previous note).
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1/11/2020 - davidandrose Likes this wine: 96 Points
Not decanted but allowed to breathe from the bottle for almost 2 hrs. Tasted side by side w from both standard Riedel’s and Sommelier stems, the somm’s added a notable degree of richness and weight to the blackberry and dark fruit on the nose, as well as a floral component.
Elegant approach shows the wines age, but there’s still several years ahead of this before the “must drink” stage. Smoke, sweet tannins, mature dark fruit are the main components, but it’s the wines integration and layering that make this so special.
Mrs Davidandrose added that drinking this brings her back to the vineyard, with morning dew on top of the black cherry, smoke, aged vanilla and old toasted oak.
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12/28/2019 - AlanC Likes this wine: 98 Points
Hitting on all cylinders. Brief 30 minute decant then opening up to a field of flavors and tones. Just delicious, unctuous, and packed with exotic spice on top of rich red and dark fruit. I was just warming up as the bottle was dwindling. Killer now!
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12/7/2019 - ChrisR Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fruit, fruit and more fruit. Rich, dense, intense, palpable fruit. Liqueur-like blackberry, black raspberry and black currant, some smoke. I'm sure there was a ton of oak and tannin buried in there, but you can't detect either. For all the sumptuous fruit, it somehow tasted balanced and supple with good lift and a long finish. Obviously not the most complex of wines, but that kind of fruit quality is hard to find.
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10/29/2019 - shafer1994 Likes this wine: 100 Points
A Monument still in adolescent stage: our bottle was decanted 1 hour before dinner, a bit closed and distanced at first but then a perfect match with the lamb carre. A very intensive nose of blackberries and black cherries, hedonistic but still young. An endless (1 minute+) lasting finish which encourages you to think about philosophy of Life. A wine of enormous proportion: a Monument which will easily last 20+ years, one of the best wines I ever had!
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10/22/2019 - mattiasjansson wrote: 98 Points
Shafer Hillside Select in Boston - Take II (Boston): Just beautiful. Still young and the fruit is mostly primary. Mouth-coating tannins and a long, long finish. The best example I've tasted of this vintage.
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8/27/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
It's been ages since I last tasted this gem. It is hard to believe, this is almost 18 years old. The color remains dark. The fruit, which has softened over the years, continues to hold on to its youth. The oak is better integrated. But this is still about the power and layers of decadent berries, so I'd wait another few years before popping another cork.
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7/1/2019 - VinNoobie Likes this wine: 100 Points
Pnp at a restaurant and sipped over 2.5 hours. Deep garnet color. Dark berries, cherries, silky smooth tannins, tobacco, and incredible long finish. Amazing wine that got better and better with each sip.
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6/25/2019 - bookert wrote: 93 Points
Great balance and concentration, ripe tannins and long life ahead of it.
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6/4/2019 - Kevnzworld wrote: 98 Points
Deep balanced and complex.
A nice blend of blueberry, blackberry, and a little cherry mixed with earthy cigar box, espresso and orange peel. The tannins are mellowed but evident with some oaky toastiness and cinnamon on the long finish.
Fabulous .
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12/25/2018 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 97 Points
From magnum and just smoking. Everything in perfect balance and just another example of why HSS is at the top of Napa.
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12/15/2018 - Zweder wrote: 96 Points
In the bouquet dark berries and licorice. Same on the palate. Beautiful juice, acidity and bitterness. Some pleasant sweetness. Great wine with still a good future.
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12/7/2018 - rojoloco wrote: 92 Points
I can't give this a fair score. It was open in the bottle, poured off to the shoulders, for about 90 minutes before we started drinking it. It was not nearly enough.
I would suggest a 2 or 3 hour decant before drinking. Unfortunately, it was my last bottle. I know from other scores here this bottle should have shown better. My bad.
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11/10/2018 - jgreco Likes this wine: 98 Points
Wine Advocate: Grand Walkabout Tasting (NYC): Poured from a Magnum. This is still a baby! Lots of primary fruit character remaining. Tannins are still in the process of resolving. This is going to be incredible for decades more.
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10/27/2018 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Matter of taste (London): Dark, dense and intense. Silky tannin and super long finish. This has many years to go.
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10/27/2018 - rossi.wine wrote: 97 Points
Amazing depth, layers of ripe, generous fruit, spices, crushed stones, tobacco, cedar. On the palate fresh, very well balanced, gentle tannic grip. Very complex with a nice mineral spine, really long and persistent, too. Fantastic. 96-98
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10/27/2018 - SlimShaney Likes this wine: 94 Points
First 100 point Shafer apparently. Great. Clear your glasses and give this your attention.
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9/8/2018 - Frank Schneider wrote: 100 Points
After 5 h of decanting ..... out of this world ! Stellar !!!
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8/26/2018 - ledwards wrote: 94 Points
Dark and brooding with a huge tannic backbone that will benefit from additional time to soften. All flavors are dark ones- Balckberry, graphite, stone, tobacco. Worth waiting 5-10 years in my opinion.
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8/13/2018 - nywine68 wrote: 95 Points
A massive wine. Gorgeous black cherry fruit with licorice. Really saturated but not heavy. Lots of layers of dense complexity and a long finish.
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7/28/2018 - sjdoc Likes this wine: 100 Points
decanted for an hour. this wine lived up to its rating. typical shafer start and finish with dark fruit and smooth even tannins. in my opinion, blew away the other wines of the evening ('97 Harlan, '92 Araujo, '07 Sloan, '12 Kapcsandy)
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7/10/2018 - paulst Likes this wine: 90 Points
Robust blackberry; tannic and young.
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3/29/2018 - dccc wrote:
6L that we’ve had since 2007, won at NWWF auction. Celebration for Cheryl’s recovery from near death experience. It was outstanding wine, could have waited much longer but the time was good for us to enjoy, so we did. Well deserving of the 100 point score. Doug and Elias are truly special.
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3/10/2018 - SMHalps Likes this wine: 97 Points
A great wine with a long finish. Still lots of fruit left, it probably has years of life ahead of it. Opened, but not decanted for over 90 minutes before pouring. It continued to evolve and get better during the evening.
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12/30/2017 - Frank Schneider wrote: 100 Points
Perfection !
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12/8/2017 - parkerbj wrote: 99 Points
It gives me a heavy heart to rank this wonderful wine 3rd (kind of). Really, 1-3 are all on the same playing field. (Abreu Thorevolis and Schrader were 1a and 1b). I’ve had this before a few years ago and thought it was amazing and graded it 100 pts. Tonight it had 99 pts but man this was some seriously stiff competition. The nose is much more floral but backed up by some serious dark fruit and black cherry. When tasting, you get the sense of free run juice with no stems and the tannin is so smooth but obviously from the 30-35 months in oak. It finishes for at least a minute. This is definitely one of the best Shafer vintages, and they’ve produced some spectacular wines over the years. As an aside, I highly recommend visiting them if you’re ever in Napa.
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8/27/2017 - slywka7 wrote: 100 Points
Shafer and Scarecrow at South End in New Canaan (South End New Canaan): Super excited to try this legendary wine. There was a cork issue with this so it wasn't fully opened until we got to the restaurant and was promptly decanted. Nose on this was fantastic with sweet cherry, burning embers, blackberry, touch of earth and plum. The palate of this had flavors of blackberry, cherry, earth, mocha, fruitcake and a touch of iron. This still had a tannic bite on it so it really could have used at least a good two hours. Improved as we drank it. Ended with a huge blackberry infused finish that lasted at least a minute. This certainly didn't drink like a 15 year old Cabernet. Certainly had a long life ahead of it still. Lived up to the hype.
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8/1/2017 - JBVino wrote:
Dissappointing bottle as dominated by alcohol and over ripe fruit. Last bottle had 5 years ago had more balance, length, texture on the palate and flavor complexity. Bummer.
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5/26/2017 - mattiasjansson wrote: 95 Points
Shafer Hillside Select in Boston (Boston): Still young. The fruit is big and the tannins are yet to resolve. Very good, but I open this way too early.
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3/22/2017 - SMHalps Likes this wine: 97 Points
It was the 2nd Cabernet of the night, following a 2009 Quilceda Creek Cabernet and it was followed by a 1997 Phelps Insignia. Opened, but not decanted for 45 minutes before pouring. Beautiful color, and perfumed nose. It had a big mouthfeel and long long finish. A treat to drink. This may have been an overwhelming fruit bomb in its youth, but at 15 years (from the harvest, not the bottling), it has balanced out really well. I had this with a Mutton chop and it was a great pairing.
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2/14/2017 - floridawinedrkr Likes this wine:
I gave this one an over night decant and it fell apart. needs 6-12 hours max. I was disappointed . upfront and mid-palate gave up nothing, finish was all alcohol.
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12/10/2016 - Zweder wrote: 97 Points
UWS 2016 End of year dinner (@ CdW and KvdK): No formal notes. Popped and poured and a bit too cold. Nevertheless a great pleasure again! What a beautiful and harmonious wine and still in its early maturity stage.
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12/4/2016 - konadog wrote: 95 Points
Big blue fruit on the nose, expansive mouthfeel with creamy tannins. Really in a nice spot now
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11/5/2016 - Vinophiliac559 wrote: 95 Points
A Matter of Taste (Meritage Resort & Spa Napa, CA): 94-95: Was very good, however not where I expected it to be given its 100 pt score and 14 years of age. Maybe my score is dampened a bit by my disappointment as I was expecting a much more profound wine and experience.
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9/11/2016 - davidandrose Likes this wine: 96 Points
1/3 of bottle previously coravin'd. Uncorked and allowed to breathe for 90 mins. Wine color has barely penetrated the cork.
Purple/black coloring is darker than I'd expect for a 14 YO wine. Pencil lead, leather, char on the nose. Wine holds a firm grip on the side of the stems but glides over the palate without leaving much of a coating, though there are ample dark fruit flavors that - again- I'd expect to find in a younger wine. In a solid place today, capable of cellaring for many years to come. Tossing off a bit of fine sediment before the wine level dropped to the punt. Clearly a new world wine. 96
A remaining 1/3 of a 2001 HSS previously CV'd was opened as well. Cork has been motioned 30+% up, but is still fine. Though it poured a bit lighter in color than the '02, this was stellar right out the of the bottle, with opulent rich, dark fruit flavors, notably black cherry. After 2 hours there was considerable spice box and vanilla; fruits show a greater degree of maturity and less intensity than in the '02. Old world pedigree. 97
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8/14/2016 - Jerry 3 wrote: 97 Points
Brilliant Deep Red color, aromatic, red currants and cherries; big finish
a great wine for sure with lamb
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7/24/2016 - fokker wrote: 93 Points
Drank after 78 Lafite and 96 La Mouline last night. Friend opened it after he decided I was still thirsty.
Decanted for half an hour before serving. Opened up quite nice with your deep Napa Cab nose full of berries, without noticeable oak. Fruity and very mouth filling, however, the complexity was not there. Sweet and long finish in the end.
Still too young?
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5/13/2016 - WineWright Likes this wine: 97 Points
Fabulous! This is only getting started. I predict decades ahead for this massive beauty. Take your time!
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5/6/2016 - levinml wrote: 97 Points
Drank at Grand Street with Nancy/Jeff and Ann/Johnny. Open, pour and decanted. Dark purple color, amazing nose out of the bottle, and after airing out for about an hour darn close to perfect. Perfect balance, great flavors, long finish. Mad that family wanted to drink so much and leave less for me.
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3/19/2016 - gr8r84u Likes this wine: 99 Points
Beautiful aromas flowing from the bottle once I managed to magically extract the bottom portion of the crumbling cork. Oh... this is going to be good!
Wife: "Will I like that?" Me: "I hope not" Poured into decanter... another whiff... mmmmmmm.
Decanted about an hour. Beautiful floral nose and tons of juicy delicious fruit on the palate. This was everything I hoped it would be... sublime. You could wait, but why?
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1/3/2016 - SMHalps Likes this wine: 95 Points
Had a dinner with the 1994 Tertre Rôteboeuf, 2002 Shafer Hillside Select and 1999 Ridge Monte Bello. Only the Shafer was decanted, the other two were opened and sat in the bottle for about 45 minutes before serving. The WOTN for me was the Ridge, followed by the Shafer. But all three were outstanding.
The Shafer is tasting much younger than 15 years, as it still has gobs of fruit. Huge amounts of vanilla both on the nose and in the taste. Very long finish. This is a great wine and I'm sure it will last for years and years.
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1/2/2016 - WineWright Likes this wine: 98 Points
Shared with the Goodwins on New Year's Eve. Spectacular in every way!
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12/29/2015 - pakabear Likes this wine: 93 Points
Not the best showing for this wine, I've had it being much better. Red currants, dark red fruits and cooking spices and a finish that had a bit of a metallic taste in it. It was still good but a disappointment overall.
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12/29/2015 - dcwino wrote: 96 Points
Big cab dinner at Morton's - 07 Maybach, Ovid, Insignia and etc. (Morton's - Reston, VA): From the same batch as the last two bottles. This seems to shed the opulent prime fruits a bit which accentuates the irony mineral expression. This bothers RJ a lot as he doesn’t care for the “iron” in Napa cab. On the other hand, it doesn’t bother me. Expressive nose displaying blueberries, blackberries, licorice, iron, lead pencil and bitter chocolate, Excellent concentration, strong presence of mineral that gives the impression of iron, silky and polished, more noticeable tannins than the previous bottles and long finish that ends with an iron note. This seems a bit angular/structure driven. Nevertheless I found it really enjoyable.
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12/25/2015 - civilmatt wrote: 97 Points
Decanted for about an hour then drank with kona rubbed lamb chops at the capital grille. The wine had lost some of the brilliant color but was aromatic and perfectly integrated. Dark fruit and a long lingering finish. Great wine and pairing
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12/21/2015 - shaferguy91 wrote: 97 Points
Terrific ! Probably my WOTY. No decant.
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12/19/2015 - LESTERTHEINVESTOR Does not like this wine: 85 Points
Most unusual eucalyptus note on the nose; complex body with fruit forward flavors, but a heavy cedar aftertaste was too overwhelming
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12/7/2015 - McKraftyWino Likes this wine: 98 Points
a great wine today, still with lots of time...
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11/24/2015 - Purple Tooth wrote: 98 Points
One of the RICHEST wines I have had so far. A true sipping wine...This is not a dinner wine to gulp with food...Its an after dinner wine that can very easily make you forget about dessert... with an explosion of black and red fruit, cold steel, and spice. Very long, long, finish... Still very fresh, probably just more blended and tame than at release at age of 13...But I would have loved to try this a year or 3 after release. The word "awesome" is so loosely used these days, but applies very appropriately to this gentle beast. Drink or Hold
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10/14/2015 - floridawinedrkr Likes this wine: 97 Points
Drank at Auberge du Soliel along side a 2010. I have had several 2002's and in my opinion it still needs an over night to show its best. Double decant this for sure. Stunning, loads of cherries, chocolate, and espresso. Long finish with red fruits lasting forever. without the double decant its still somewhat harsh with dominate alcohol on the finish. Its amazing that a 2002 still needs to settle down. This baby is still huge.
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9/18/2015 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
Has some leather and spice development. There's a core of sweet, briary fruits. It is dense, round, plush and full. Decidedly modern but very tasty.
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8/15/2015 - KenK Likes this wine: 98 Points
Thank you J! This bottle was clearly in perfect shape (2 hour decant) and showed amazingly well against very tough competition ('07 OVID, '10 HSS, '12 SQN Stock). Rich, ripe, succulent, high toned perfumed nose that is unmistakably the HSS signature tell. Amazingly deep ripe fruit profile of red cherry, strawberry, and rhubarb wake all the senses in the best way possible. Wonderful energy and lift support the rich red fruit flavors, yet this stays silky, soft, and smooth. A real WOW wine. So impressed where this wine is in its evolution, or should I say almost lack of evolution. This was tasted with the 2010 HSS, which seemed like a barrel sample that closed up quickly in the glass. For now, its no contest.
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7/18/2015 - garambler Likes this wine: 97 Points
We had this with Kobe Prime Rib on 7/18/15. It had a powerful, layered, fragrant and completely awesome bouquet of lavender, cassis, blackberry, raspberry, road tar, licorice, mocha, cocoa and spice aromas. The palate was rich, ripe, powerful and VERY dry with flavors of black currant, black cherry, blackberry, mocha, cocoa, licorice, herb, spice and minerals.
Our group was split right down the middle: some thought the drying tannins were too much and didn’t like it. Some thought it was incredible. The group’s average score was still 94.5.
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7/13/2015 - jclary Likes this wine: 94 Points
This was a bit of a disappointment compared to other HSS bottles, but still very very good. Out of magnum, decanted for 2 1/2 hours. HSS is my favorite cabernet, and I have probably served it to guests more than any other wine. Everyone else loved it, so I am probably being overly harsh. It does need more time to fully show all that it has to offer.
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6/12/2015 - peternelson wrote: 92 Points
Intense cassis, ripe, big, forward black and blueberry pie, hint of mint, nice, smooth, voluptuous; starting to soften up with slight cooked fruits.
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5/27/2015 - Bob in NC Likes this wine: 98 Points
One word tasting note: Incredible.
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5/24/2015 - Hebrew Hammer wrote: 98 Points
- Brick color.
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5/23/2015 - CR lawrence Likes this wine: 100 Points
Cork broke when opening, I was worried. Initial funky chemical aroma on initial decant and poured a half glass for a quick taste, still worried. An hour later, the funk & chemical nose was gone and the wine was starting to soar. Asked my wife to taste... and what was in the taste glass was quickly dispatched as she nodded approval. Dinner a few hours later, ribeye with good friends. Notes of fresh loam, dark fruits are ever present, so well integrated that they were very hard to distinguish particulars; a very long, soft, smooth, mouth watering finish. Wow. Minutes long!
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4/4/2015 - sjdoc Likes this wine: 99 Points
drank in a vertical tasting, 99-03. 2003 did not match up. 99 was a surprise hit. 2001 and 2002 were the clear winners with the 01 being slightly better
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3/20/2015 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 95 Points
Just a great wine. Still on the young side. Great depth and long finish. This wine will seemingly last forever.
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2/28/2015 - Zweder Likes this wine: 98 Points
A Matter of Taste tasting (London, Saatchi Gallery): Great to taste this wine again! As in my previous note I wrote that this wine comes close to perfection. Beautiful dark fruits, coffee, cinnamon, a beautiful balance between sweetness and acidity and silky soft tannin with a lot of power. Probably a great pleasure from now until at least 2025. I love this wine!
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1/26/2015 - Knicksfan wrote: 97 Points
This is a beautiful wine. Lives up to the "hype". 1hr decant and aromas and flavors are soaring out of the decanter. Wonderful example of Cali CS and how they can hold up/improve for a decade and longer.
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1/17/2015 - floridawinedrkr Likes this wine: 95 Points
Very dark, thick and almost syrupy texture when poured into decanter. Spectacular nose. Decanted for 5 hours. Everything was perfect except for the finish. The finish was disjointed and alcohol muted the flavors. I expected much more from this 2002. We drink a lot of Shafer HSS and this was not the best bottle I have had especially for the price of this year. Needs more time to age.
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12/17/2014 - Rosengoo Likes this wine: 98 Points
This bottle was an impromptu pop and pour with friends. The colour was a very deep purple and it was perfectly clear. Based on how this wine was, I would have never known that this bottle was 12 years old already. It had a strong nose and taste of red cherries and caramel with some chocolate thrown in the mix. Although I didn't measure the finish, it was quite long. The tannins and acidity are present but have mellowed out nicely and now the wine is showing wonderfully. One of my "wines of the year".
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11/5/2014 - Dvogt wrote: 96 Points
Dark, inky purple. No signs of age. Dark fruit, blackberry, blueberry, some fig, bitter chocolate. A touch of heat. Nice tannin integration.
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10/30/2014 - dcwino wrote: 98 Points
Cali Cab Dinner with 10+ Years of Age - 02 HSS, 04 Levy, 01 Madronna and etc. (Charlie Palmer - Washington DC): The last bottle that I had in last May was certainly was impressive but was a bit overwhelming. Intense crushed blackberries, crème de cassis, lead pencil, dark milk chocolate, vanilla and mineral. Incredible concentration, intense jammy black fruit driven palate impression, unctuous yet silky palate and masked tannins due to the incredible fruit concentration. Wow wine. IMO, Shafer HSS is one of the greatest Napa Cabs.
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10/22/2014 - peterk Likes this wine: 96 Points
Drank alongside a 2003 Chapoutier Ermite and a 2004 Penfolds Grange - great company. This is amaaazing wine - pure, layered, multi-dimensional, sweet, tannic wine. I almost thought it was a Syrah, as did others given its company. This wine has years and years to go - I can see why Mr. Parker endows it with 100 points. I'm just leaving space for better wines in the future (perhaps one day I'll have to recalibrate).
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9/27/2014 - WildeMeeuw Likes this wine: 93 Points
Paris Tasting in Zwolle (again... at last) (De Librije - Zwolle): Kleur: Robijnrood met een diep paarsige vleug Aroma / bouquet: Stuivend aroma, geconcentreerde powerwijn met donker fruit, potloodslijpsel, inkt, caramel, cederhout. Indrukwekkende concentratie. Smaak / Afdronk: Verleidelijke powerwijn, iets te lage zuurgraad en daardoor iets te weinig fraicheur, boterzachte tannines, wat laurier, super dik sap met veel concentratie en power. Veel alcohol. Algemeen / potentieel: Verleidelijk glas. Wel oppassen met serveertemperatuur. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 13 + Smaak / Afdronk: 17 + Algemeen / potentieel: 8 = 93/100
Google Translate
Color: Ruby red with deep purplish hint Aroma / bouquet: dusty aroma, power concentrated wine with dark fruit, pencil shavings, ink, caramel, cedar. . Impressive concentration Taste / Finish: Seductive power of wine, a bit too low acidity and therefore too little fraicheur, butterly soft tannins, some bay leaves, super thick juice with a lot of concentration and power. Lots of alcohol. General / potential: Seductive glass. Be careful with serving temperature. 50 + Color: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 13 + Taste / Finish: 17 + General / potential: 8 = 93/100
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9/24/2014 - H Crenshaw wrote: 95 Points
This wine is showing lots of ripe blue and black fruits. Hints of smoke and chocolate as well. This is still very full bodied and should continue to integrate and balance as it ages in bottle.
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9/18/2014 - dbg wrote:
Dark purple to rim, intense nose of dark berries, mocha, full body, palate coating, rich ripe fruit, long finish, outstanding, not quite as round or complete as the 2001 or 2004.
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9/6/2014 - Collector1855 wrote: 95 Points
Even among 100 pointers, a wine rarely gets the kind of endorsement like this one. I a video RP discusses it with other California Cab Sav 100 Pointers ranking it above that "Uber-peer-group" and calling it one of the greatest CabSav's ever made. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkMC51DE4VM). Against that backdrop I recently bought a few bottles just to see what it is that enticed RP so much. Not that I did not know the Hillside Select before, a retailer close to where I grew up discovered it in the early nineties and carried it in his assortment. I had many vintages before but not the 2002. To finally taste it I took a bottle to a dinner in Hong Kong with an old friend from work who is an experienced oenophile. We discussed intensely and settled on a range between 95 to 100. Below that it gets hard to defend your position. We can see 100 but only if your style is "the more the better". I came out at just 95/96, my friend was in the 97-98 range.
Tasting note: Very dark purple with blackish core, no sign of age in the color. Expressive nose of blueberry, some flowers, dark berries again and hints of Eucalyptus. On the palate this is full bodied with a touch of heat but not overly so. What is impressive are the tannins. They are there in spades but ultra soft on the mid palate. What they do is to provide the much needed bitterness (bitter chocolate note) at the finish to round out the otherwise very sweet/blueberry/fruity mid palate. Structurally this reminded of the best 2010 CdP 100 pointers like Grand Veneur VV or Janasse VV. What I am personally missing is a bit more aromatic diversity beyond the black fruit spectrum, eg, smokey, earthy tones. If you own this wine, put it next to a Latour 2000 or Montrose 2009/10 and you know where I am coming from. Sorry for the lengthy note but given the video credentials I thought I had to go a bit deeper here.
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8/1/2014 - davidandrose Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decanted and followed over 4 hours. Pours inky purple with heady, rich aromas right out of the bottle; Mrs Davidandrose closed her eyes and said she felt she was in Napa, with her head in a recently-emptied cask. Wine was a little backwards right out of the bottle with some disjointed green notes, silky mouthfeel and a brief mid-palate finish, but this changed over time.
Silkiness dissipated at the 4 hour mark, rich blueberry, medium+ toast oak, tight wood feel but a longer finish that continues back-palate. In a very nice place but will retaste within a year to gauge longevity of remaining bottles.
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5/8/2014 - William Kelley Likes this wine:
The 2002 Hillside Select is a brazzen, decadent wine, oozing with super-ripe blue and black fruits, smoke and hints of chocolate and licorice. Sumptuous and supple, with fine-grained tannins and massive volume on the palate, this is a particularly ripe, precocious and seductive vintage of Hillside. The ripeness here is walking the tightrope, but for now everything is held in check.
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5/4/2014 - gr8r84u wrote: 98 Points
Not sure if it will get any better with addl age... and don't care. Shafer rarely disappoints, this is no exception. Sublime!
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5/2/2014 - PopularCar wrote: 100 Points
Wow! This is a special wine, no surprise. blackberry, black licorice, dried herb.
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4/19/2014 - DavidF90210 wrote: 96 Points
got crushed by 02 Maya.
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1/29/2014 - McKraftyWino Likes this wine: 98 Points
Glorious. Gorgeous! Still young! Great sip.
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1/19/2014 - Barbaro wrote: 97 Points
Decanted for 4 hours. This wine is showing beautifully. Still has good structure and tannin that tells me it could definitely continue to age. This night it was amazing and if I had more of this wine it would be hard not to open another in the near future. Delicious!
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1/18/2014 - DLacki wrote: 95 Points
Outstanding wine. Extremely smooth on the tongue. Subtle jammy flavors. Sorry it was my last one.
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1/14/2014 - bambam Likes this wine: 98 Points
What a great showing. On the nose the fruit really hits you with blackberry and cassis. Lots of youth showing in this wine. The finish shows the structure with some solid tannins and a hint of spice. This is my second bottle and it is aging at a glacial pace. Older vintages of HSS have hit the sweet spot for me at about 15 years. This one will easily be 20 or 25.
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1/3/2014 - arniec Likes this wine: 96 Points
WOW Really in a sweet spot. Well integrated, lush fruit, smooth, great mouth feel. The aromas are extraordinary. Sad this is my last 750.
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1/1/2014 - ggj wrote: 98 Points
NYE
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12/31/2013 - webbaker wrote:
Into the decanter at 10:45 am. Cork showing some signs of dry rot, but no evidence of spoilage or leakage. Tasted over the next 36 hours. Really took a while to open up. Not the depth of fruit I'd expect from Shafer. I have to suspect that the bottle was slightly bad or on it's way. I'll leave it unrated.
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12/18/2013 - Jonathan T Likes this wine: 99 Points
I won't bore you with the usual HSS descriptors. This is classic HSS. The wine equivalent of a girl who is stunningly gorgeous, and walks into a room knowing she is the prettiest girl in the room. This is a feminine wine, but not girly. Definitely badass. Confident yet humble. Not slutty like a Maybach. This is a girl who never needs to post her butt on Instagram. Opulent, luxurious, All-American. Francophiles may blush. The 2001 is very close. 2001 may be slightly more structured and precise and the 2002 more velvety and plush.
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12/17/2013 - pakabear Likes this wine: 97 Points
This was showing extremely well, stored perfectly since release and it showed. Great extraction, balance and structure. Still fairly young, so I wouldn't be in a hurry but shows well from the start.
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12/15/2013 - soyhead wrote:
5th Annual Best of Bordeaux vs Kings of Kalifornia (Yan's China Bistro): tasted
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11/28/2013 - CMCLR wrote: 88 Points
Not as good as I remember. Chalky and borderline pruny
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10/26/2013 - Zweder Likes this wine: 98 Points
Beautiful and luxurious bouquet with ripe dark forest fruits, mainly blueberries, sweet spices, good chocolate, flowers, etc. Just great! On the palate everything comes back. A beautiful balance between sweetness and acidity and silky soft tannin, but also still a pleasant soft bite. This is very close to perfection. Can last at least another decade.
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9/8/2013 - mdefreitas wrote: 95 Points
Football & Domestic Cabs @ Howard's 2013 (Old Greenwich, CT): Such a well-endowed wine, with fresh, fleshy fruit and loads of structure for the long haul. Cassis, blueberry and violets abound. A bit too intense for me for current consumption but this has such great promise. Score is based on future potential.
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9/5/2013 - Share 67 wrote: 100 Points
Well worth the rating
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7/18/2013 - clairenclarence wrote:
pop n pour.veri tight.closed.didnt get much thing.pour into decanter.getting slightly better after several hrs.my suggestion if u wana xplore tis bttl,few hrs decant is a must.my gues for tis bttl to reach maturity is 15 yrs.no rating bcoz didnt get much tings from tis bttl
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7/8/2013 - G_H Likes this wine: 97 Points
Massive and rich, lucious fat body with a deep blueberry nose. Crazy viscosity and just so over the top it's a pleasure.
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7/6/2013 - BrianMc Likes this wine: 97 Points
Lucious, smooth, soft, extraordinary flavor are just a few terms I would use to describe this wonderful wine
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7/1/2013 - Wine_lvr Likes this wine: 93 Points
Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Tasting (Switzerland): First impression - still too young. While I expect this wine to be close to the legendary 2001 in a few years of time, I do not think that it will ever reach its greatness.
Deep purpelish red. Nose of black berries. The tannins are still very present. There is an enormous power and backbone to this wine. A future blockbuster wine. As with the 2001 I would resist pulling the cork for another 5 years. Great wine.
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6/27/2013 - Uglypinga wrote:
nose has some soy, beef and black fruits. the palate has some nice acid and dusty dark fruit. good, not great on the company.
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5/17/2013 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Trip’s visit to DC - Capital Grill (Capital Grill at Tysons corner, VA): This is a youthful monster, not evolved much showing mostly primary fruits. Crushed blackberries, crème de cassis, lead pencil, vanilla and earth. Incredible concentration and chewy palate. It seems a bit closed. This is a truly impressive wine rather than enjoyable. I preferred the 01 which seem a bit more open and slightly less concentrated.
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4/10/2013 - artist777 wrote: 99 Points
This is in the top 5 bottles of wine I have ever tasted! The balance and structure was just perfect. The fruit was delicious with blackberry and dark currant, I don't think this can get better, but I am going to continue cellaring my remaining bottles to find out.
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1/29/2013 - Share 67 wrote: 100 Points
Simply tremendous effort by John, Doug, Elias and Tucker too. Shared this delicious bottle with Mr Shafer last weekend. What an amazing experience.
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1/7/2013 - rmh66 wrote: 95 Points
Gobs of cassis, some black cherry, brown sugar, graphite, smoke, a little cedar, forest floor, and vanilla on the nose. Not a huge nose though. Cassis, earth, chocolate, tart cherry, spice, herbs, and a little caramel on the palate. Very concentrated, yet well balanced. No noticeable heat. Fine tannins. Bit of sweetness on the long finish. Overall, this is an outstanding wine. I would love to try it again someday, but I doubt I could afford it...
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12/31/2012 - Stan Likes this wine: 97 Points
Spectacular way to ring out the old and ring in the new.
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12/15/2012 - vinodonpedro Likes this wine: 97 Points
Excellent wine. Creme of cassis, lead and saddle leather mixed with berries and a hint of vanilla in the finish. Big and bold in the bottle with a terrific finish. I think this got plenty or room to evolve and mature.
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11/18/2012 - shiel wrote: 100 Points
OK folks. Here goes. Drank at my daughter's wedding after consuming the following wines with my dear friends: 1985 Bonny's Silver Oak, !985 Napa Silver Oak, 1985 Joseph Phelps Insignia, 1985 Dunn Howell Mt., 2001 Araujo, 1995 Caymus Special Select, 2006 Colgin IX, 2007 Leonetti Reserve, 2003 Neal Rutherford Dust, 2006 Quilceda Creek.
So...this wine was the overwhelming best. Perfect harmony of fruit and oak and tannins all velvety on the palate. Lingers forever. Find it and covet it.
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11/15/2012 - Mrbuzz wrote: 93 Points
Jen's Fund Raiser Dinner II (Max's Bistro, Fresno Ca.): My first time with this one...very ripe and loaded with sweet fruit and flavors....berry liqueur, creme de cassis....dusty cedar spice, charcoal, pretty florals......but there was some vanilla coconut oak thing that just keep creeping in? Very big on the oak, and the sweetness in the fruit was just too much for me...especially when tasted next to the QC. Still, quite tasty with great feel...just had higher expectations.
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10/11/2012 - robertr Likes this wine: 97 Points
Drank for our 15 wedding anniversary. First time I had one - it did not disappoint. Exceptional balance and great finish.
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8/21/2012 - JBVino wrote:
For someone who does not tend towards CA cabs this was surprisingly good at this realitively early stage. Good balance, structure, secondary flavors have just started to peak through. Fruit still has staring role but good balance and length. Finish is a bit too sweet for my preference would be primary complaint,
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8/19/2012 - cubswinws wrote: 98 Points
A complete wine full of fruit and amazing balance and depth. Will likely merit a perfect scor in another few years. Just a joy to drink.
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8/12/2012 - erikes wrote: 97 Points
Way too young to drink now, but showing impressively. Drank with the '97 Shafer Hillside Select. WOW! I cannot wait to see how the '02 evolves in 10 years.
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8/5/2012 - rwstorer wrote: 97 Points
Popped and decanted for 3 hours. Dark opaque red with aromas of deep red cherry, currant, tobacco and spice. Immediate flavors of rich, silky smooth red fruits unfolding into deep secondary spice, and a streak of chocolate. Perfect balance and a pleasure to drink with a roasted filet. I found the wine a bit sweet on the finish but was immediately shouted down.
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7/14/2012 - old tractor wrote: 98 Points
Wine is at a peak now. Lovely fruit, dark color. Gorgeous. At Manresa's 10th anniversary dinner.
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7/2/2012 - Erik R. wrote: 97 Points
amazing and powerful. Rich, but graceful, chocolate and juicy cherry and intense cab sauv. luxurious mouth-feel, prodigious finish. huge. one more bottle left
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7/1/2012 - rpenn77 wrote: 99 Points
Rich deep luxurious mouthfeel. Great nose. Lucious dark fruit. This was paired in a flight with Harlan and Verite La Muse and was the definite favorite of the group! Too bad it was my last bottle.
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6/17/2012 - 2loyal wrote: 94 Points
Rich and unctuous, but better balanced than I expected. Stands on its own, or makes a meal.
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5/9/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Clearly this is the best non cult, cult wine from California. Still deep in color, licorice, jammy blackberry, vanilla, cassis, earth, cocoa and spice scents are made more complex with the massive, intense wall of delicious, juicy, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon that covers your palate. Shafer Hillside Select is one of the few California Cabernet Sauvignon’s that improve and evolve with age. At a fraction of what the big boys costs, if you’re seeking one fo the best wines from the Golden State, look no further.
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5/6/2012 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 94 Points
Deep garnet. Nose was a smmoth mix of berries, winter spices and vanilla cream. Taste was a tad too warm, slightly enphasizing the ending alcohol, but it was mouth filling, berries, vanilla. Very good and a shame it was warm as it would possibly have shown better.
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2/28/2012 - Share 67 wrote: 100 Points
Rediculous
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2/11/2012 - patwjr wrote: 98 Points
Decanted for one hour, then back in bottle for serving 2 hours later. Big fruit, with tannins showing this one still has years to go. That said, it drank beautifuuly tonight and was a real drinking pleasure.
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2/4/2012 - wardawg100 wrote: 100 Points
The greatest bottle of wine I have ever drunk. I have 2100 bottles in my cellar and I love them all, but this one is the BEST!!
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1/26/2012 - suttonri wrote: 95 Points
Popped and poured. Mouth coating cassis, cherry, & cocoa. Velvety sense of weight covering every nook & cranny of the palate. Not so much evolution in the decanter but really turned up to eleven with steaks. Too uncomplicated to be 100 pts, but it does what it does very well. Wine of the night for 3 of 4 diners, with the 2003 Quilceda Creek taking a not too shabby 2nd place.
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1/1/2012 - dr mike wrote: 98 Points
Monumental wine. Globs of chocolate, scorched earth and cherry. Full bodied with moderate levels of sweet tannins.
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12/16/2011 - soyhead wrote: 92 Points
3rd Annual Best of Bordeaux vs Kings of Kalifornia (PRIMA, Walnut Creek): tasted blind (wine #9)
N- tomato, heat, more savory than sweet
M- delicious red fruit with orange peel accents, almost like Hawaiian punch, in a good way. Flat out delicious
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12/10/2011 - paffy wrote: 100 Points
Did a Shafer HSS lunch with Dan, Donna, Alison, Brian, Frank, Dave and Dave at Angelini Osteria in Hollywood.
Tasted the 97, 99, 01, 02, 03, 04 and 06 vintages around 2:30pm.
Wines were served in pairs of 2 with the always over the top tasting menu that Dan designed with Gino. Bravo.
What an amazing lunch. The 02 was my WOTN closely followed by the 99 and the 04.
The 02 is a big, in your face black fruit bomb! White chocolate and vanilla nose. Cream de cassis on the wonderful mid-pallet, long finish. The best juice I've had from Shafer.
It was really very cool to see how the same producer’s vintages vary from year to year. The 01 and 02 are very different wines yet only one year apart. This 02 will certainly age for many years to come, but is in a great spot right now.
Dave - what a way to pop your shafer cherry, hunh?
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11/26/2011 - B Paul wrote: 93 Points
In a nice place and showing signs of secondary development. Mature nose, with pretty, pure fruit on the palate. Excellent wine, though not quite up to the hype.
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11/23/2011 - shiel wrote: 100 Points
As good as a Napa Cabernet can possibly get, with the only exception being that it could age another decade or two or three. Hurrah to the Shafers!
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11/19/2011 - DHutch wrote: 99 Points
A great Cab from a great vintage. Shared with great friends over a fabulous meal. Decanted, plums, fresh raisins, anise, and spice on the nose. Seamless on the palate. Tannins are there bult melt away after seconds. Flavors of black currant, blueberries and plums pump through on a fine path over minute finish. Yummy stuff. A treat!
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11/17/2011 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 95 Points
Deep garnet. Nose of plums, black fruits and anise. Taste was similar, a rich cab that initially had a slight alcoholic finish, but melded into a smooth tipple. Rich and great, but not at the 100 points it was a few years ago.
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9/17/2011 - orcharddude22 wrote: 100 Points
Profound
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8/27/2011 - shiel wrote: 99 Points
Second plunge into nirvana fantasy. Last taste was six months ago. Decanted for one hour. Good idea. The nose was softer than last time. So was the wine on the palate. Velvety smooth, well balanced with fresh fruit. This wine is just starting to open up. Very approachable and with sweet tannins. Blackberrys and hint of plum. The Shafers know what they are doing and charge accordingly. For those who are enchanted with Napa Cab and don't care about the cost, there is little doubt that this wine and this vintage cannot be beaten. Enjoy now or wait ten more years and watch it change.
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8/25/2011 - Iroyston wrote: 98 Points
Outstanding
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7/31/2011 - Plunge the Worm wrote: 95 Points
Alex says "velvet plums", I'm still reeling a bit from sticker shock (even though I bought on release day). It's Napa cab and drinking very young despite 9 years of age. Oak is primary and not fully integrated yet but "feels" like it will get there in a few more years. The wine the is "just" straight forward cab, it is easy to accept as is and not pick apart trying to find the complexity...should wine be complex our just great? Happy to says I got another one in cellar to ponder later. I'll probably wait another 5 yrs for it.
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7/23/2011 - Robert Pavlovich wrote: 99 Points
Stunning Elegance. Classic and defining napa cab style, impeccably balanced acidity and integrated oak. However it's the taste and complexity of the fruit, and the ridiculously powerful finish that make this wine a legend. For me (and many others apparently), it's the complete package for CA wine. 97-100 points.
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7/17/2011 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 100 Points
SQN, Clerico, Hillside Select, Chave Hermitage, Rieussec: A wow wine for me for sure. The nose explodes from the glass. Cassis, cedar, some smoke, and spice. On the palate, this is young and vibrant but totally accessible. Lush. Great texture. Complex. Decades left to enjoy but this was not a waste to open right now. Everything I want in a Cal Cab.
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7/5/2011 - jonphillips wrote: 96 Points
With Dad at Revolution.
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6/14/2011 - dgoerisch wrote: 99 Points
Wow! Layer after layer of flavor. One of the best wines I've had in the last couple years. Amazing purity of fruit and a finish that goes on for minutes. WOTN in an amazing lineup that included three first growths and a Screagle.
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6/10/2011 - Vinacull wrote: 93 Points
Perhaps a classic illustration of how great wine may suffer if it doesn't get proper air, or alternatively, I'm in the camp with the reviews of Jeff Leve and Jeff Nowak. The generous host of the party placed this out on the wine table to be opened, so I obliged. P&P, with no opportunity to decant, and no place to stash the bottle to let it get some air before it was quickly emptied by unwitting party-goers sucking down whatever was open. Color very dark, seemingly black, opaque, and what appears to be full-body coating the glass. Served in what I call a "globe" glass that doesn't allow swirling (unless you like wearing your Hillside Select), I was able to gently coax some beautiful and powerful aromas of black currants, black cherries, blueberries, graphite and chocolate, and bits of well done oak poking through. On the palate, so much power and layers of dark fruit, and yet it is not heavy at all, which was admirable in and of itself. Tremendously tasty flavors of black currants, cherries, chocolate (both dark and milk), flowers from somewhere, and fine silty graphite adding texture. Seems tight starting in the mid, and major league polished tannins clamping down somewhat on the back end. This had the Wonka "Everlasting Gobstopper" finish, where it just keeps going, somehow introducing new bursts of flavor to an already-saturated palate. Overall outstanding from perspectives of flavor, balance, and finish, but it felt like there were a number of components not showing or that had not come together in a complete package yet, and so the experience was neither 100-point-perfect nor mind-blowing, no matter how much I wanted it to be. Even by numbers, I can't rate it higher than the '92 Dominus we had a couple months ago, which was much more elegant and complex and had an incredible youthful energy more like an '02. But again, maybe it was just the tasting circumstances for the HS. No doubt it has great potential.
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6/5/2011 - jeff nowak wrote: 92 Points
not decanted. an underachiever in the past, this is the best bottle i've had. not decanted. smooth enough to stand out. fruit is solid. still, this is a disappointment as a former WS WOTY
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5/27/2011 - lpk22 wrote: 98 Points
Decanted, dark ruby color, full mouth feel. Dark cherry, hints of chocolate, very smooth and lingering finish. Drinking really well right now, has a lot of life left in it. Great bottle of wine, better then the 2001 IMO
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5/6/2011 - flashvictor wrote: 97 Points
Dark ruby color leads to a huge nose of cassis, dark cherry and vanilla. Full body is perfectly balanced with flavors dark cherry, currant, tobacco box, and dark chocolate. This manages to be both very big and exceptionally fresh. Finish lasts for great than 1 minute. Amazing wine! Decanted for 1 hour and drank over another 2 hours - continued to improve throughout night.
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5/2/2011 - aegerter Likes this wine: 100 Points
Today is the "Bin Laden day" and I decided to drink my best US made wine. My choice was the 2002 Shafer which was rated 100 by Parker and it didn't disappoint!
Amazing concentration, minerality and balance! It expresses Napa at it's best - 100% Cabernet and there is not a flaw in this wine and it drinks very well at this point. Sorry that I'm feeling so patriotic today (even though I'm not a US citizen) but the US has much to be proud of - including this wine! The closest wine that comes to mind is the 2001 Le Pin which is one of my all time favorites. This comparison can be argued, but both are a perfect expression of fruit forward terroir oriented wines. Anyway, it's a great day and I'm enjoying this wine.
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4/23/2011 - harish wrote:
great wine
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3/23/2011 - kelpcowboy wrote: 96 Points
Good fruit and some spice on the nose. Red fruit balanced with acid and soft tannins in the palate. Spice and a medium finish. Still has time to go in the cellar.
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2/21/2011 - BradE wrote:
Very good cab.
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2/10/2011 - shiel wrote: 100 Points
Drank with Doug Shafer. 100 point night.
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1/26/2011 - clmayfield wrote: 100 Points
Think of a perfect Napa cab both full and light on its feet with dense texture and yet surprising elegance and this is what you get. This is Stag's Leap District at its best.
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1/21/2011 - tarheel17 wrote: 95 Points
STG End of Year (Roy's): tasted blind
OK, so THIS is Cali cab. Intensely forthright on the nose, with gobs of fruit and caramel and all sorts of yumminess. THe palate was exactly what the nose promised, though with pedigree to last much longer. Both younger and more voluptuous than the other wines in the flight. I kind of suspected the producer, and was happy to taste this into my own personal oblivion. But for 'real wine' experiences, I still prefer the 1991 Dominus.
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12/31/2010 - davidandrose wrote:
Double decanted and consumed over the course of 3.5 hours. As some other recent tasters have noted, this is a solid wine but its just not strutting its stuffing yet. We're major HSS fans and this just isn't ready now. While tight, its not tight in the sense that you just get oak as you do with many wines; there's dark fruit brooding in there somewhere, and there's no overpowering wood. While enjoyable, the components just haven't aged and melded together yet, and I'm not posting a score as a result - this needs time as its an non-event at present.
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12/18/2010 - hkfoebee wrote:
Dark and Bold. Plenty of stuffing that suggests a long life ahead. But drinking very well right now. Would have wished to have resisted for a few years longer. Will wait on bottle #2.
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12/13/2010 - jaylew1 wrote: 94 Points
This is a MASSIVE wine, giving up nothing. Similar to the 2006 Colgin IX Estate I had last year (also an RP 100 pointer). Concentrated and black. I enjoyed it. Not a fruit bomb, not overly tannic and Not Ready. Not even close. I have a couple more of these and I will be waiting til 2015 at least before I hit the next one. Reminiscent of the 2005 Bdx tasting I went to last year. Pure concentrated fruit, but no real nuance.
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12/9/2010 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
Shafer Hillside Select often makes one of the top wine California Cabernets. In 1997, it's a reference point wine. But I did not get that from the 2002. It's not so much quality as it is a stylistic preference. 2002 Hillside Select is packed and stacked with jammy blue and black fruit, brown sugar, tobacco and dark cherry notes. The palate is coated with dense layers of jammy, ripe and over ripe berries. This is a concentrated, powerful wine. The finish shows some heat and thick jammy textures. I have friends that love this wine. While I see the quality, the over the top styling's of this wine make it hard to like. Perhaps it's just too much of a good thing.
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11/10/2010 - jeff nowak wrote: 90 Points
decanted. a wine you can't easily fault, but neither can you get too excited about. certainly a WS WOTY flop in my book. i've had some sensational HSSs; this isn't one of them, although it displayed enough guts to warrant one "atta-boy."
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10/15/2010 - chimpanzee29 wrote: 96 Points
Opened for 6 hrs, then decanted for 1. Dark garnet and purple, with some age showing as amber around the rim. Incredible nose of sweet vanilla/caramel tinged spice and dusty cherry. Some more complex nuances of cedar and pine and a little anise- but the wood is pronounced. Still primary in the midpalate presenting with a fully loaded fruit profile. The finish didn't hold up to expectations, but that's not saying this isn't a great wine. A great example of Stag's Leap fruit. Amazing balance of fruit, acid, alcohol and tannin.
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9/28/2010 - drycab wrote:
Really shy upon opening and decanting, it didn't show well against an 02 Harlan and an 02 Sloan. But wait...it started to come alive after about an hour or two in the decanter and if we had just given all of the wines a little time, there would have been a beter comparison. I really can't say what this wine is really like as I don't think it got a fair shake in the comparison.
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6/12/2010 - Share 67 wrote: 99 Points
One one THE most elegant Cabernet's I've ever tasted. Classic nose with the most rounded and well balanced taste and finish I've experienced in a lone time.
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5/25/2010 - phenricsson wrote: 99 Points
Blind. decanted 1.5 hrs. Extremely dark and young looking. 95;92. I jokingly said when I saw it: I didn't know we had any 07 Shafer HSS. Fantastic nose; powdery, spicebox, chocolate-covered cherries, big but fresh. Mouthfeel is very fat, rich and end-to-end, exquisite. This wine has lots of tannins, you can feel after a while that the mouth is puckering, but while drinking it you get nothing of that, there is so much other stuff there. Sweet but with so much breadth and complexity. Best part is the aftertaste; at least a minute, sweet, candy, caramel, melted, dark licorice, semidark chocolate (50%) and huge amount of violets. Superb wine but too young to judge - I guessed an 07, could never have guessed an 02. 98-100 points.
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5/7/2010 - ews3 wrote: 96 Points
Great Grapes for a Great Cause SQN Tasting -- 3rd Annual; 5/7/2010-5/8/2010 (Mandarin Oriental, Washington DC): more ripe fruit -- plum, blue and black berry fruit. long finish like the others
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3/5/2010 - novicedave wrote: 97 Points
Needs a healthy decant to open up. Inky black velvety bliss. Vanilla pudding with blue and blackberries mixed in. 45 second finish. As good as advertised. Love these Hillside Selects.
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2/6/2010 - sdsull wrote: 98 Points
Consumed at Chef Howie Steak in Bellevue, WA. At peak now.
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1/26/2010 - ed-d wrote: 92 Points
Black color. Smoky, lovely concentrated black fruit with loads of tannin, high extract, high alcohol & a vanilla tinge. Needs more time.
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12/23/2009 - rdsboca wrote: 94 Points
Drank side by side with2002 Sloan and it held its own. Thick cherry compote with some black berries. Well integrated, smooth long finish. Mouth coting and mouthfilling.
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11/14/2009 - WildeMeeuw wrote: 97 Points
Paris Tasting in Zwolle (De Librije - Zwolle): 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select (USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District) Kleur: Diep donkerrood, geconcentreerd Aroma / bouquet: Uitgesproken, boordevol donker fruit, potloodslijpsel, jodium, bittere chocola en mokka, in alles typisch Nieuwe-Werelds. Smaak / Afdronk: Super-dik en super-geconcentreerd, zwoel, krachtig maar aangenaam zuur, vol met gepolijste tannines, super krachtig, super mooi en verleidelijk. Mega-lange afdronk… Algemeen / potentieel: Superverleidelijke knaller, nu nog te jong. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 14 + Smaak / Afdronk: 19 + Algemeen / potentieel: 9 = 97/100
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9/28/2009 - ScottS wrote: 96 Points
Birthday wine enjoyed with dinner at Sunnyside in Tahoe. Absolutely fabulous with potential to be a stunning wine in time. Wonderful fruit and structure with finely grained tannins and a terrific finish. HOLD
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9/27/2009 - rthun wrote: 98 Points
The 2002 Shafer Hillside Select is not quite as tight as I recall it being a few months ago. Decanted 2 hours before drinking. Deep garnet color. Flavors of candied dark fruits, red currants, plums, mineral, steel, cedar and graphite with sweet tannins. Still a giant wine that needs time to evolve. Great balance and very nice mouthfeel. Hold for 3 years before drinking (I need to start paying attention to my own notes). Yummy wine.
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7/25/2009 - rthun wrote: 97 Points
The 2002 Shafer Hillside Select is a beautiful wine that is not quite ready for prime time. Dark purple/black color. Aromas of boysenberry and brown sugar upon opening. Decanted 3 hours before serving. Flavors of dark fruits, brown sugar, chocolate, cinnamon graham cracker, cedar, spice box and blackberries. Throughout the night, the wine was opening and closing down. When the door was open, this was an excellent, full-bodied wine with nice balance and layers of flavors. Still a little too early for this one. Not quite triple digits, but that may change in a few years. Best to circle back in 3 years.
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7/9/2009 - profiler54 wrote: 97 Points
Dense dark purple garnet color. Nose ultra ripe dark cherries, vanilla-oak, anise and herbs. Hugh full body, dense concentration and a long lovely finish... This wine has the stuff I just wish I was tasting it 5 to 10 years from now... Still too young
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5/25/2009 - hudamang wrote: 97 Points
Consumed at the Chateau Soals in Foster City. Dark fruit, chocolate, and a finish that lasted over a minute...awesome wine. Very nice nose.
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5/25/2009 - RBurgundy wrote: 90 Points
I was very excited about trying this wine at diner at Tribeca Grill in NYC. We decanted for 1.5 hours. I was expecting a lot for 100 pt RP wine. The wine really never developed for us. It was some what flat on the fruit side and the finish was hot. Still a lot of alcohol. It did open up a bit but the finish was muted with stong alcohol. I did have high expectations. The other issue is we had a half bottle of 02 Araujo Eisele Cab to start. That was VERY good and blew away the Shafer. I still give it a 90 but not worth the price.
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5/18/2009 - Jared wrote: 96 Points
Beast. Punch to the face of ripe, extracted, concentrated dark fruit. Cassis liqueur, graphite, palate staining blackberry fruit. Dense but balanced with a brightness and luxuriousness that doesn't quit. Thanks Travis! 96pts.
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5/17/2009 - last chance wrote: 94 Points
Decanted about 2 hours prior to tasting. Dark purple color. The nose had of currant and cassis aromas. The palate showed flavors of dark fruits with notes of chocolate and spice. Full bodied with a nice mouthfeel, and a long finish. This was the second time that I tasted this wine, but it seemed a bit shut down right now. It started to open up a bit more after about 4 hours, but still wasn't nearly as expressive as it was back in early 07. It was nice to be able to taste this wine again after a few more years of bottle age.
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5/10/2009 - PathDoc wrote:
mind boggling. so good.
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5/3/2009 - tomlbs wrote: 99 Points
I cannot really add much to the other tasting notes on this site. It is complex on the nose and in the mouth, and it is silky smooth with a great finish. This is one of those wine tasting experiences that anyone who likes California cabernets lives for. It is just stunning.
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4/23/2009 - carnyc wrote: 98 Points
Ripe black fruit and vanilla were the predominant scents that emanated from the glass. A really seductive nose that only increased anticipation.
The first word that comes to mind after tasting the '02 SHS for the first time is massive. Flavors of tobacco, spice and chocolate accompany a cornucopia of black and blue fruit. The transition from the enormous upfront attack of voluptuous black fruit to a spicy mid-palate to a finish that goes on and on...and on is seamless. Silky texture and nice weight. As big as it is, there is a wonderful underlying structure that provides just the right amount of focus and restraint. This is the whole package in an unapologetically Cali new world style. While it could be characterized as over the top by some, if you enjoy Napa cabs, this for me was quite possibly the finest example I've ever had.
It was exhausting to consume this bottle in the best possible way.
And still thinking about the finish...
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3/17/2009 - numcwrt2 wrote: 96 Points
Massive wine, very primary. Full, bold black fruit, seemless integration. Won't be trying another for 5 years. Drank this at a tasting. Jeb liked it a bit more than I....a couple of the others kept on saying how young it was but kept on reaching for the decanter.
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3/7/2009 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 95 Points
Great Wine Dinner (Rheingau Gourmet & Wine Festival Hattenheim, Germany): Reminds me of the Termanthia 2004, very rich but rather alcoholic, wonderful smooth tannins.
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3/1/2009 - orcharddude22 wrote: 98 Points
Consistent with earlier notes. Complex, long finish, awesome nose and delicious. Blueberry, chocolate and lead pencil tastes. This is my third bottle and continues to impress.
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2/18/2009 - mike l. wrote: 89 Points
blueberry and pencil lead distinct on the nose. very sugarfied to my palate, very accesible right now. a little meh for me, feel like ive tasted this napa cab profile many times. definitely did not live up to the hype.
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2/15/2009 - Clarkmeister wrote: 95 Points
Delmonico Wine Dinner (Delmonico Las Vegas): Gold medal winner of the night with broad consensus. I was a shade disappointed, but that's more my expectations talking and not the wine. The wine was outstanding from start to finish.
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1/17/2009 - noppakit s. wrote: 95 Points
3rd time with this wine, um....I prefer the easy yummy 1998 and the nice texture 1995.
2002 is not clear in my sense....elegant ??
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1/17/2009 - DdB wrote: 97 Points
Best Hillside I've had to date in terms of texture and harmony. Took a while to get going, but really came together in the glass. Chocolate galore on the palate with pleasing deep, dark cherry and black currant. Still some room to grow in the nose. Paired perfectly with a dry aged sirloin.
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1/17/2009 - loverboy wrote: 94 Points
Bithday Party at Prayote's House: Tasted blind,
Deep ruby red with a very californian nose of red berries, vanilla, herbs & spices. Very ripe with sweet and delicate tannin. Very young, you can feel the bitterness.
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12/17/2008 - J @ y H @ c k wrote: 93 Points
Blind. Red fruit and excellent balance. Dark intense color and long finish. Tanins there but not fierce. Very enjoyable.
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12/3/2008 - Phin wrote: 96 Points
4 hour decant was not enough. Black fruits with giant mouthcoating tannins. Rich and viscous with monster structure. Super ripe nose.
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11/30/2008 - Monrovino wrote: 100 Points
This is exactly what you'd expect from a 100pt wine. Perfect integration, deep richness, and such a long finish, it takes hours to consume a bottle.
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11/29/2008 - winefool wrote: 95 Points
Celebration Dinner (Chicago): Full opaque purple red color. Clean nose of serious black fruit with cassis and licorice notes. big black chocolate tannic fruit with a hint of mint. Also quite ripe, but very focused. This wine has been good since release and should only get better.
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10/4/2008 - sinebubble wrote:
Good.
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10/1/2008 - phenricsson wrote: 97 Points
92;88 Very dark and dense but still not quite as massive looking or tasting as we have seen in the past. Soft feeling but still with very high acid, especially in the beginning. This wine also actually improved over night. 97p.
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9/8/2008 - keithgg wrote: 100 Points
Probably the best Cal Cab I have tasted. Tremendous layers of fruit, licorice, minerals, leather. Showed far better than the 2002 Harlan which was drunk alongside.
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8/9/2008 - jonphillips wrote: 98 Points
Wow. Really nice - not too sweet. Better than the '97 a couple years ago.
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8/3/2008 - JDB wrote: 97 Points
DAMN - I meant to grab an 03 but picked an 02 by mistake . I did not notice until after it was in the decanter . I took a small sip right after decanting and thought WOW this wine is huge and this is the 03 !!! Not ... Glanced @ the cork and it said 2002 , damn grabbed the bottle , yup 02 . Oh well here comes a great wine and yes as far as I am concerned it lives up to most of it's hype . Is it 100 ??? What is perfection ? But the finish lasts forever it is massive & dark & brooding and , and , and pretty spectacular . I am sorry I opened it by mistake but it is one very impressive bottle of wine , now I have to really be careful w/ my remaining few
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7/22/2008 - goofy Yno wrote: 96 Points
Blueberry, cassias, tabacco. big fruits, smooth fine tannins, good complexity, long finish. not quite as good as my last bottle, but a great wine.
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7/19/2008 - goofy Yno wrote: 97 Points
blackberry, cassis, earth. big powerful mouth but with balance. good complexity, long long finish with dark fruits and mocha undertones. this wine was showing well tonight, perhaps the best napa cab I've had to date,
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6/23/2008 - Russell Faulkner wrote:
Couldn’t decide to open this or the 01 but had read this was drinking well now. On splash decanting it showed a vibrant ruby/purple, with a purple rim in the glass. Upfront blackcurrant on the nose, some damson and clean mild spice. On the palate this shows its cards a Californian, like the Z-H is slides over the palate. Clearly ripe fruit and soft oak manages exceptional balance, full acidity and a saline moreish quality I always fins in SHS. This is tight but enjoyable if hedonistic. My favorite Cali Cab, although a mild underperformance from this bottle.
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6/12/2008 - thenapalist wrote: 98 Points
Killer. Just Killer!! What can I say? This is the third or fourth bottle of this that I've had and it's been consistently on point. Drink up now. It won't get any better.
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5/19/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 94 Points
Surprisingly smooth and elegant reminds me of the 1995.
Deep, clean, good oak. Silky texture, medium to full-bodied, a little bit too sweet, Long and linger finished.
Sleep ? Maybe top form in next few years. ( 94-97/100 )
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4/28/2008 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Double Blind Tasting and Dinner (David Burke's Primehouse - Chicago IL): Tasted double blind. Black fruit with lots of new oak spice aromas. Same black fruit on palate, very good accompanying spice, starting to shed its baby fat and show early maturity, which unfortunately is making the alcohol more prominent. I thought this older when tasted blind. Not quite as exciting as i recall from when last tasted a couple of years ago.
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4/28/2008 - winefool wrote: 94 Points
Weber's Blind Tasting Competition (Primehouse): Full opaque purple color. Huge nose o fbright black fruit - clean and bright. Big rich chocolate covered raspberries on the palate. This was pretty easy to nail as a Cali cab. I've had this wine 5-6 times over the past couple years and while this was still a GREAT wine, it may have dropped off a point and could be starting to close down a bit from its sweet exhuberant youth... 94+ pts.
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3/14/2008 - ken-yyz wrote: 99 Points
Enjoyed at the Banff Springs (brought from our cellar, enjoyed in the room). Hard to imagine a better CA Cab. Perfect, delicate balance. Concentrated cassis and so so pure. Simply remarkable.
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2/28/2008 - gotapex wrote: 98 Points
Popped and poured (in Dixis cups, no less)! Absolutely amazing. Perfect cork. Thick and dark, with a nose dominated by blackberries, cassis, and a bit of vanilla. Unbelievably young and fruit driven on the tongue still, but will solid structure, fine tannins, dark fruit, and vanilla from the toasted oak. I'm going to wait a bit before opening the others. These seem to better and better integrated as time goes on.
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1/19/2008 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 96 Points
deep garnet. VA in the nose that eventually quieted down, but never left. Black fruits and spices on the nose also. Taste was magnificant and the VA was the only detracter for me for this bottle.
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1/15/2008 - jeff nowak wrote: 90 Points
starting to think i'm not on board the legend train with this wine.
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1/15/2008 - kstoddard wrote: 90 Points
Dinner with Otto (Backstreet): Blackberries, leather and earth. Rich and a touch over extracted to a point where it tastes a bit reduced. Powerful finish. Very young and closed. Quite tiring to drink. Could use a bit more acidity to freshen everything up and make it more lively on the palate. The last few times I've had this it showed much better. Off bottle perhaps. 14.9% alcohol.
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1/5/2008 - GA wrote: 96 Points
1/08 Dark inky purple - concentrated cassis boysenberry black fruit - intense - chocolate tannic toasty oak finish - very young- have tasted this several times with same thought - way too early. 96 pts.
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1/3/2008 - mattiasjansson wrote: 90 Points
Backstreet - No theme (Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix): Huge and tight. Black fruit. Tannic. Did not show as well as previously.
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1/3/2008 - jeff nowak wrote: 91 Points
VERY primary despite a 2 hour decant. i would certainly expect this to evolve and open with excellent cellaring. a massive wine, that has great potential. yet, this bottle seemed a little out of sorts.
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1/3/2008 - goofy Yno wrote: 88 Points
bad night for this fella- very oaky with vanilla dominating the nose. good balance on the attack but no complexity and a cliped finish. Bad bottle??
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12/27/2007 - ipp wrote: 98 Points
very similar in style to 97 Bryant ... huge fruit nose with hints of candy-fruit ... fruity and expansive on the palate ... dark liquorice, dark fruit ... long finish
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12/27/2007 - DdB wrote: 96 Points
Boisterous on the nose, big on the palate. Currants, cedar, and blackberries. Classic cab. Just needs some time now to develop some complexity. Could easily see this a few points higher with some age.
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12/26/2007 - dbg wrote:
dark purple to the rim, and again a very powerful, intense nose similar to the others ('02 Screagle, Harlan), but kicked up a notch. Tons of currants, licorice, plus a bit of spiciness and some floral notes. Very full-bodied, mouth-coating, layers of lush fruit, and a more powerful finish than the others, it was just edged out by the
Harlan for me because the alcohol peeked through just a bit on the finish. Picky, picky. 98 points
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12/25/2007 - win wrote: 96 Points
Had at Christmas dinner at home. Just an amazing wine. More refined this time, with great complex fruit exhibited with a very long finish. When you drink this wine, it just screams quality. It will be interesting to visit this site some day.
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12/23/2007 - burgcamel wrote: 99 Points
Not sure why I didn't give it a 100! This is the best young Shafer HS I've had. Hard to believe it's this open at this age.
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12/23/2007 - Screameagle wrote: 99 Points
One of the best young wines I've ever consumed. So young but so good with 6 hours in the decanter. A monumental effort that is only going to get better with some age. Too bad I've only got one bottle left.
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12/18/2007 - CMCLR wrote: 95 Points
Outstanding.
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12/11/2007 - orcharddude22 wrote: 100 Points
Not sure this is a 100 but you are not going to get closer. Nose of chocolate, nutmeg, blueberries and licoice. Looooong finish, full 60-90 seconds. Tastes of dark fruit, espresso, cocoa and pepper on the finish. Multi layered complexity that makes this unique. Needs about an hour decant but after that is very approachable. Unbelieveable wine.
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12/8/2007 - M-driver wrote:
Purchased from the list at a great price. As soon as the bartender popped the cork, the nose smacked me in the face (from about 5 feet away). I knew this was going to be good. Pop and pour - did not decant.
Gobs of dark chocolate, smoke, and dark fruit initially on the nose. The palate is incredibly silky yet oh so concentrated and precise. This has to be the most well blalanced young cabernet I've tasted in recent memory. Loads of chocolate and more smoke/characol on the palate. And the finish - oh so looooooong. Must have lingered for a good 90 seconds.
As the wine evolved, the nose transformed into a rich cassis and clove. More of the same on the palate and the chocolate was still oh so apparent. Consumed over the course of two hours or so and the last sip was the best.
This was brooding, rich and powerful. Clearly one of my top 5 wines of this year - however I do think I slightly prefer the 2001 version of this wine. It's not quite as rich and showy, but I think it may ultimately prevail after time in the cellar.
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12/5/2007 - goofy Yno wrote: 96 Points
wonderful wine. bacon, blackberry, anise. such a smooth balanced elegant mouth, shows alot of complexity with a long finish.
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12/5/2007 - jivey wrote:
Backstreet offline - can't get past the heat but would like to try it again in 20+ years.
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12/5/2007 - kstoddard wrote: 96 Points
eRobert Parker Offline - Best of Cellar (Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix): Boysenberry, blueberry, earth and leather. Well balanced with good acidity. Complex mid palate. Powerful and rich on the finish but still maintains some very nice complexity. This wine has really evolved this past year for the better.
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11/10/2007 - ErinByrne wrote: 99 Points
This is the second time over the last several months that i've enjoyed this wine and this time it felt less big, but was still one of the most amazing wine experiences i can remember. Last time it came after '97 chateau montelena, this time it was the first wine of the night. We didn't decant long which showed in the glass as it got more complex over after about 30 minutes or so. Complex nose, deep rich fruit, and an elegant and pleasing finish. At Country in NYC with Felix, Edith, Michael G., David A., and Ashley.
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10/10/2007 - ipp wrote: 97 Points
Great red color ... Huge nose of cherries, liqueuer, and hint of smoke ... Silky smooth ... Well integrated tannins ... A bit hot ... Nice finish
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10/9/2007 - tbabes wrote: 96 Points
1 bottle, from the wine list at Jake's Restaurant, October 2007, $290. A revelation! Dark purple color. Intense aromas of very ripe dark fruits, anise, and lilly. Incredible on the palate; full-bodied, with an extremely velvety mouthfeel. Long and complex finish; incredible structure. This was truly a joy to taste and consume.
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10/5/2007 - beezer6 wrote: 98 Points
I had been anxiously awaiting my time to sample the '02 Hillside Select.
Johnny had been sayin' we could bring it to Joe's, but I didn't believe it until we were in the lobby with it tucked under his arm.
We opened the bottle upon sitting down and started with a bottle of the '05 Emeritus Pinot Noir. This paired wonderfully with our King Crab Legs and Stone Crab claws.
Upon pouring the wine was an extraordinary deep purple, black at the core.
The nose was not jumping out of the glass as I would have thought, yet it was extremely unique to anything I had smelled before.
After two hours upon opening, the wine truly began to open. Notes of lush dark cherry, smooth minerals and layers of tobacco, coal, charred wood and baked goods.
The wine felt like no other on the palate. Light and lingering. The balance of tannins, acidity and alcohol is FLAWLESS. The finish lasted for 70 seconds. Remarkable.
I only wish every wine lover could experience what I did with the 2002 Shafer Hillside Select.
The best wine that has ever touched my lips to date.
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9/11/2007 - hcampana wrote: 98 Points
Had at Brix in Yountville, CA.
I had been dying to taste this wine for a long time, so I came in early to the restaurant and asked Meghan, the sommelier, to please decant it 2 hours prior to our arrival. The bottle is so big and heavy, I thought they'd opened a magnum when I saw our waiter bringing it in from the cellar! This wine is incredible dark. Pitch black with purple hues. The nose is very fruity and a bit simple. What sets it apart is the intensity of aromas. Not a lot of complexity here, but the intensity is remarkable and very, very appealing. This is like listening to the same song in two different CD players. The notes and lyrics are somewhat similar, but this one is playing at full volume. After smelling it, I know this won't hit the 100 point mark for me. I really require a lot more diversity of aromas and complexity to garner the perfect score. After tasting it, I must say, it came close! This is one of the most concentrated wines I have ever tasted, but it is neither heavy nor over the top. This is concentrated essence of the vine in a bottle. What a G R E A T palate impression this wine left on me. Very full bodied, in complete balance, with just the right amount of acidity, tannin and oak. This is a delicious wine that can very well be the model for every Napa cab in the lower altitude areas. I am glad I had it. It is an awesome wine to savor slowly, even if the foodies complain it really isn't that food friendly a wine. I believe this is the highest socre I have ever given a Napa Cab.
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9/8/2007 - KBrindley wrote: 98 Points
Kathy and Won really enjoyed this one.
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9/4/2007 - bsherwin wrote:
CLONYC 6 - Cultish Cabs (Philip Marie): If it is possible to feel bad for a wine, I feel bad for this one. I've had it a couple of times and I think it really suffers for the albatross of the 100 point score. That's perfection, so it's almost like a gotcha trying to find flaws instead of enjoying it for what it is...an extraordinary wine. That said, I'm not sure of the value of opening this wine now, other than to track its evolution. I just find it to be a massive wall o' wine right now, not unlike tasting a young first growth (which is probably an apt comparison). An inch wide and a mile deep. Nonetheless, everything is there and one can't help admiring it for what it will be if what it is now is something less. Like watching a young Mozart.
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7/28/2007 - win wrote: 95 Points
Still surprised how refined this wine was showing. Elegant today, with great complexity.
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6/2/2007 - Hank Gillespie wrote:
The Wine Summit: Shafer Hillside Select - Saturday, June 2, 2007 - 10:45 A.M. (The Post Hotel in Lake Louise, AB): Deep purple/black with virtually no rim; sweet flowing aromas full of berry fruit – spices, black currants, toast and some anise; creamy texture – full bodied with a large dose of concentrated sweet black currant fruit, which rises on the palate in waves and carries out to an extremely long finish. Once again, all of the parts here for a wonderful wine – just needs a bit of time. I’d like to taste this one again in 5 years.
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5/27/2007 - LPskeleton wrote: 97 Points
On the nose deep fruit, currants, blueberries and floral elements. Amazing tannic grip, very young. Need alot of time to calm down. Texture and weight are amazing. Incredible long mouth watering finish. My first 100 pt wine. Did not agree with parker.
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5/24/2007 - rothdog wrote: 93 Points
Dried cherry, raspberry, vanilla. Ruby/purple at the core, slight fading at the rim. Aromatics were not all that strong, but it was tasted outside at the winery, and I find it difficult to assess the nose when outdoors. A much lighter Hillside than expected. Red fruits dominate. Very straightforward for all the hype this vintage of Hillside is getting. It might not have been a great showing for this wine because of the '02 Teachworth I had earlier in the day, which is a much more concentrated, complex and compelling wine.
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5/22/2007 - Harry Cantrell wrote: 100 Points
youngest 100 point wine I've ever tasted/awarded. A table full of mostly non-geeks were speechless and was by acclaim the red/WOTN. Oh my friggin Gawd. Boy, do I love Shafer HSS and this was the pinacle. I'm still tasting it 3 days later. PS-it was double-decanted 24 hours prior to drinking.
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5/12/2007 - CMorris wrote: 94 Points
Decanted 60 minutes. Very full wine, nicely balances and integrated tannins. Deep berry flavors with a hint of asian spice. Another great effort by Shafer.
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5/4/2007 - Nutty08 wrote: 95 Points
Deep color in the glass. Nose more laid back than expected (bottle had been open a few hours, in the glass about an hour) but had some nice fruit and earthy notes. Stunning on the palate with a velvety mouth feel, softer than expected for an '02 Cab, very concentrated. LONG finish with mocha, tobacco and earthy notes. This was the highlight of the Napa tastings, although it certainly needs some time to integrate. If I owned any, I wouldn't touch it for a few years.
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4/28/2007 - Paul Lin wrote: 95 Points
Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Dinner (1989-2002) (California Club, Los Angeles, CA): This was drinking better than the 2001, but I don't think it will go the distance that the 2001 will. Surprisingly mature for its youth, with dazzling cassis, blackberry, and cedar notes. Creamy dark chocolate finish sails on forever. A decadent wine for a decadent evening.
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4/27/2007 - ErinByrne wrote: 99 Points
Decanted for approximately 30 minutes. Deep flavors of blackberry, plum and spice. Rich legs, tantalizing bouquet, and a very ong finish. This wine is a show-stopper that opened up and got more intriguing with every taste. This was the third wine of the night at Pat's going away party - a great time with Pat F. and his wife, Pat R. and his wife, Jim, Michael, Libby, Joan from Ireland and Suzanne.
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4/25/2007 - acheng wrote: 95 Points
Darker and more viscous than the 2001. The first word that comes to mind is "fresh". Sweet, chocolate and lead pencil. Oak. Full body and excellent length. Overall better than 2001 at this stage.
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4/21/2007 - psmith wrote:
Overdone nose reminiscent of just about every other wannabe "high end" Cali Cabernet. Lots of flashy vanilla and dark fruits. Rich, ripe palate with lots of alcohol and abundant fine tannins. Very enjoyable, just not special.
Not suprisingly, better after a few hours open - fewer seams and less overt.
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4/19/2007 - MarkC wrote: 100 Points
Wow. Okay, as the third wine, following two superlative wines, it's hard coming up with the words, but this is hands down phenomenal. Period. Rich, lush, big-but-not-over-the-top, red and black fruits, chocolate, surprisingly approachable tannins, loooooong finish. Sadly, I don't have a lot to add, but this wine deserves a lot more.
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4/13/2007 - carls_wines wrote: 100 Points
We served this wine at the dinner following our civil wedding on April 13. Selected from the wine list ($225 per) at the Milton Inn located in Sparks,MD earlier when setting up the menu I had asked the staff to decant about 90 minutes prior to our arrival. With a few guests arriving late the decant time was proably in the 2 hour range by the time it first hit my glass. In a sign of good things to come a friend sitting about 10 feet way was watching the pour and immediately said how he had caught the aroma already! This wine was amazing and I must say that the buzz surrounding it is justified in my opinion. Incredible nose of black berries, a bit of spice and somewhere in the back just the faintest hint of licorice and what I call wrapper tobacco - the tobacco on the outside of an unlit cigar, a bit sweet almost but tobacco nonetheless. The oak (there was oak right?) was so well integrated as to be at most a subtle overtone, just the slightest char note on the finish. Tannins were there, providing some grip, but this wine exhibited no rough edges whatsoever. The finish was smooth and long, long long. Having enjoyed three bottles now I have to say that this wine is just amazing. Drinking incredibly well with freshness, structure and integration now yet with underlying power that to me indicates that, as hard as it is to think, there are better days ahead.
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3/31/2007 - Screameagle wrote: 98 Points
This wine although still a baby is very enjoyable with the five hourse of decanting I gave. We drank this blind with my wine group and a couple of people picked it as a merlot that's how approachable it is. I have no doubt that this wine will evolve into one of the great Hillsides over the next 5-10 years. If you have any of these in your cellar you are lucky.
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3/18/2007 - The Epicurean wrote: 99 Points
Had this bottle at Michael Mina in SF, on 3/16 with friends and family. The most remarkable thing about this cab is that it's got such highly structured tannins, that are so well integrated that they don't detract in any way from enjoying this young wine now. Very concentrated, opaque, aromas of licorice and currant...beautifully long finish...everyone at the table was blown away. I can't imagine how good this will be in 10+ years, but will sit on my remaining cache to find out!
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3/4/2007 - buckeye76 wrote: 100 Points
SWEET TANNINS WITH BLACKBERRIES AND CHERRIES IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR WITH HINTS OF CHOCOLATE AND LICORICE. VERY COMPLEX AND A VERY LONG LINGERING FINISH.
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3/2/2007 - phenricsson wrote: 99 Points
Shafer HSS. 92;87. Most of us agreed that in our opinion the 01 is better than the 02!? It was also a bit lighter than we are used to seeing the HSS. It was still dark but not as black as most vintages are. Good luscious nose of sweet black currants, roasted fruit and sweet smoke - almost syrah-like, even port-ish. Great lively mouthfeel and great balance. Spice and black currant in the mouth. Very long aftertaste with anise, brown sugar and vanilla. Lynn docked it for balance issues (tannins not big enough for the fruit, made the wine a bit ’easy’). 99p
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2/17/2007 - sunalsorises wrote: 98 Points
Great wine. Intense fruit. Finish lingers for a long time. Bit of alcohol on the finsh. This will definitely improve in a few years.
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2/11/2007 - rsepulve wrote: 98 Points
Wow! This was great. Lots of ripe fruit but plently of complexity hiding underneath. Full bodied, intense and silky. Not at all over the top as I had feared. This wine tasted beautiful but will certainly improve with age.
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2/10/2007 - last chance wrote: 96 Points
Fantasy football championship coronation and awards ceremony (Commish's place): Decanted for about 15 minutes before we began tasting, but the aromas coming from the decanter enticed us to start drinking it earlier than we had planned. Deep inky color. Nose of blackberry and spice. Flavors of currant with some vanilla and toffee or caramel. Full bodied wine with great mouthfeel and balance. Nice finish that lasted close to a minute. WOTN by far, and one of the best wines we've ever had.
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1/30/2007 - JDB wrote: 95 Points
to early but I was curious , tons of upside
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1/11/2007 - Nanda wrote: 92 Points
Shafer Hillside Select Vertical (Zealous - Chicago, IL): Deep dark ruby to purple in color. Layered and dense nose has chocolate and blue fruit. Luscious, fat and ripe fruits. Delicious. But so disjointed. I had a damn hard time with this wine. Difficult to figure out --- like a barrel-sample. Shades of the '01 but just not together. 5+13+16+8=92
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12/31/2006 - PinoyNoir wrote: 99 Points
Decanted 3 hours, awesome wine with fine grained tannins that clamped down on the finish. The best young cabernet I've ever tasted, cannot wait to try again in 2012!
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12/25/2006 - fisk15 wrote: 95 Points
Drank with the fam for Christmas Dinner with horseradish crusted tenderloin. Decanted for 2 hours in open Riedel cabernet decanter and consumed over 1.5 hours. Started off tight still, with very fine tannins. Started to shine at the end of the night with beautiful balance and pure fruit. I guess it did not live up to it's 100pt reputation, but it was damn fine. Upside potential in the future, but I cannot guess how long lived this wine will be.
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12/21/2006 - DelYap wrote: 93 Points
A Pre-Christmas dinner in Calgary 02 Shafer HSS, 00 Pavie (Cilantro's): I should preface this by acknowledging that I don't really get HSS. Decanted for roughly 5 hours. Huge jammy nose followed by smoke and black fruits. On the palate this wine is amazingly balanced for such a young wine. No hard edges and it was drinking extremely well. These really are accessible now and should develop nicely. Honestly though I have 11 bottles and 2 mags left and wonder if my money shouldn't have been spent elsewhere.
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12/16/2006 - vintage72 wrote: 98 Points
Had two bottles at Capital grill in Minny for client dinner. The best cabernet I have ever tasted.
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12/6/2006 - mattiasjansson wrote: 95 Points
Backstreet - Best of Cellar (Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix): Young, tight and tannic. Huge fruit. Will be great with time.
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12/6/2006 - kstoddard wrote: 93 Points
Phoenix eRP Offline - Best of Cellar (Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix): Dense purple in color. Nose of blackberry. Rich, dark and impenatrable. A bit tannic. A monster of a wine in hiding. Way too young. Needs time. Will be amazing in 10 years. Brought by Jeff.
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11/26/2006 - orcharddude22 wrote: 99 Points
Unbelieveable wine. Silky smooth mouthfeel, long finish, as perfect as a cab can be. Ready to drink now, not sure how it will improve with age.
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11/23/2006 - Mike Bates wrote: 99 Points
After a tasting of the 1995 Hillside at Shafer I had to put Hillside on my list of wines to get and this one far exceeded the 95 that I had! I was looking for flaws with it and couldn't really find any. Dark Purple in color the nose is incredible with lots of black fruit. Blackcurrant, blackberry, vanilla and choclolate are very noticable. The alcohol is 14.5% but you couldn't tell from the taste, there is no heat to this wine at all, it's very well balanced. The mouthfeel is very smooth with silky tannins. I timed the finish at well over one minute. I wonder if there's enough acidity for long term aging but what the hey, I doubt I will be able to keep my hands off my second bottle for more than a few years...
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11/17/2006 - Hillbilly wrote: 99 Points
Decanted for 2+ hours and served. This is without a doubt the finest wine I have enjoyed. Pure Cabernet essence. Dark and layered nose. Cassis, currant and some blackberry with mild licorice and great graphite flavors. Drops left in the glass still present an intense nose hours later. The depth and interplay of flavors of the palate is striking. Enough acid to keep it light but with great intensity and balance. Perfect structural frame, but overwhelmed by fruit right now. The finish blows you away. If there is a 100 point wine for me, this is probably it, but i will reserve judgement for my next bottle.
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11/7/2006 - jmd60611 wrote: 90 Points
I must've missed the boat on this one at least in late 2006...Soooooo exracted that it was like syrup, I had just polished an 89 Margaux and a 97 Jarvis so based on all the hype I was expecting to be overwhelmed by the 02 HSS, not the case...
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11/5/2006 - CMCLR wrote: 98 Points
Defies description. Without a noticeable flaw. Finish goes on and on. Wife said "smooth"- at $250 per, it better be smooth!
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10/24/2006 - ipp wrote: 97 Points
Huge, young nose ... Filled with tons of fruit ... Awesome balance ... long finish
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10/22/2006 - win wrote: 97 Points
Had at Gibson's in Chicago. Amazing deep red color with awesome aromas involving black currants, black raspberries, licorice, blueberries and hint of vanilla and toasted oak. Amazingly smooth wine that opened up even more after an hour (I would have like to have checked it again after a longer period, but we drank it). This wine coated the glass, and the finish lasted more than 40 seconds--probably longer, but there was a steak in front of me. Surprisingly smooth texture for such a young wine. Unbelievable potential in the future for this wine--not surprised if it rates higher later down the road.
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10/19/2006 - GolferChris wrote: 99 Points
Wine Spectator Grand Tasting (Marriott Hotel, San Francisco, CA): Incredible wine. Deep purple color. Intense, deep and complex. Aromas/flavors of black currant, smoke, blackberry, vanilla and chocolate. Immense layers of flavors wrapped in well-integrated, fine tannins. Tremendous lenght on the finish lasting over 60 seconds!!! This is one of the best wines I have ever tasted. Top notch effort. Would have been WOTN if not for the price.
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5/22/2006 - GolferChris wrote: 99 Points
One of the most complex, deep and intensely flavored wine that I have ever tasted. Huge red/black fruit with velvety smooth tannins. Layer upon layer of flavors and a seemingly endless finish produce a wine that inundates the senses.
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